Left Behind
by RachaelRawr
Summary: Edward leaves Bella in New Moon, but doesn't return. A hundred years later the Cullens return to Forks High School. However,so do Bella and a new found friend.
1. Dead Memories

**Disclaimer : Sadly I don't own Twilight, It's all Stephenie Meyers.**

_So here's chapter 1. I hope you like it. I just had a random idea for this story and thought I'd try to run with it. Let's see how it goes. Review please._

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His golden eyes were boring into mine, radiating pure love and adoration. I knew my eyes would be reflecting the same emotions.

He leaned in as if to kiss me, but suddenly he was moving further and further away from me. As if he was being pulled backwards by some invisible force. His face changed. Now there was a hateful glare etched across his perfect face.

"Edward!" I shouted frantically. "No! Edward, wait! Come back! Please!" My voice wavered as pain tore relentlessly through my body. "Edward… I love you." I sobbed.

And then he was gone. I was overcome by despair and an overwhelming sense of loss. It felt like my life was ending. I couldn't take it anymore. I began to scream.

I jolted up into a sitting position in my bed, still screaming. I stopped suddenly, realising it had been another nightmare.

Ever since Edward had left five years ago, nightmares had plagued me. I shuddered as I thought about the darkest time in my life. I felt so alone. I wished I could talk to Charlie, but that wasn't possible.

Charlie had left me too. However, unlike Edward, Charlie hadn't left me by choice.

It had been a few months after the Cullen's had left. Just like any other morning I woke up screaming. Charlie hadn't rushed in this time, thinking that someone was strangling me in my sleep. He'd gotten used to the fact that my screaming probably wasn't going to stop anytime soon, so he'd adapted to it.

I had showered and dressed and made my way downstairs. As I walked past the living room I'd noticed that Charlie had fallen asleep in his chair. I went over to wake him up. He had a bad back as it was, and I was sure this wouldn't be helping matters.

"Dad?" No response. I tried again. "Dad?" I said it a little louder this time. Nothing. "Charlie?" I reached out and touched his hand, intent on shaking him.

But my heart spluttered as I placed my hand on top of his. He was cold. Deathly cold. The only time I had ever felt someone who had skin this cold, had been when one of the Cullen's had touched me. The Cullen's who were dead, their hearts did not beat and blood did not flow through their veins.

No. No no no no no no no no no no. Realisation began to set in. But I was choosing to ignore it. Charlie couldn't be dead. No. It just wasn't possible. Charlie was strong. He's lived through so much already. He just couldn't be dead.

Could he?

My eyes went to his chest willing it to rise and fall. But it didn't.

I let out a blood curdling scream. I couldn't stop myself. My father was gone. He was all that was left for me here. I needed him like the air I breathed to get me through each day. I continued screaming even as the tears started streaming down my face.

I guess at some point one of my neighbours must have called the police, due to my never ending scream.

I didn't know if they had knocked or simply barged in. But I knew they were there.

Deputy Mark pulled me against his chest, trying to comfort me. The screaming stopped, allowing me to hear what was happening, what was being said. I heard the other officer call for an ambulance, even though he warned them there was no hope. The victim had been dead for hours. After hearing that the tears that were still pouring down my face were finally accompanied by my strangled sobs.

It had been one of the worst days of my life. The wounds from when Edward had left were still fresh and sore, and now I had the death of my father to add on top of that.

After the funeral I decided I couldn't stay in that house anymore. It held too many memories of both Charlie and Edward. Before when it had just been Edward who was gone, staying here had been bearable but now I just couldn't do it.

Renee had asked me to come and live with her and Phil. I rejected the offer. I just had to be on my own for a while. I couldn't stand the thought of having Renee hover over me 24/7 just to make sure I was ok.

So with that I had moved into my own, small, one bed roomed apartment right here in Forks. I never met the people who owned it. I had sent my application to some random address half way across the world and was accepted without having any question asked, that was also where I sent my rent cheques every month.

I figured my landlord was either too nice or too rich to care about how on time I was with my rent. My job here wasn't very stable so I was often late when it came to paying bills, but I'd never been sent any scathing letters demanding money and no eviction letters had graced my letter box.

It was all of that, that had made me suspicious about this place. The address half way across the world. The kindness and richness. The leniency. The way this place was decorated. It was very modern when it came to appliances, but the furniture was all slightly old fashioned and made me feel at home.

It all had a pixie like touch to it.

Alice. The Cullen's. It would make sense that they would be renting out properties. It would be easy money for them and Alice and Esme would love scouting out new buildings and doing them up as they saw appropriate.

I could never chose what my feelings were about this. I felt safe, and in a way loved seeing as they let me live here (that is, if it's actually them) and treat me so well even though I never ever see them. But it also make me feel sad and angry. Because there are reminders of them everywhere and that's just to much for my broken heart to bear sometimes. It hurts too much to think about the life and family I lost out on. I had gotten so close, only to have it all ripped away from me.

I still couldn't find it in my heart to blame Jasper for what had happened to me. Yes, his attack had set this whole thing in motion but how was he to know that it would make Edward realise that he didn't love me? Exactly. He wasn't.

I missed Jasper. I missed them all, obviously. But I missed the way Jasper would just send me waves of calm. I could really use some of that right now. Sometimes, I had hated Jasper for using his gift on me, mostly when I was angry. However, now I realised it was something I had taken for granted, among many other things.

I sighed heavily and finally dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. The hot water helped relax my tense muscles, but only slightly.

Today was Saturday, so after breakfast I decided to just go get some grocery shopping done. I knew I'd regret it later if I didn't.

Such a simple task. Just another day of the week. Yet it still caused me pain.

I wondered what I would have been doing today if Edward had stayed. Would we be married by now? I was sure I would be like him, a vampire. He couldn't have put it off for this long surely.

I sighed to myself again as I contemplated the future I should have had. Five years had taught me nothing. Even though it tore at my heart, day in and day out I would mull over my would have been life in my head.

I couldn't help it. As I thought about it, it would relax me. I would live in this fantasy world in my head forever if it was possible. But that wasn't healthy. I had to come back to the present.

But I wished more than anything that I could go back to the past. I wished that I could go back and change something, anything that had happened along the way. Just as long as it would keep Edward from leaving me.

My wishes had never been answered.


	2. Fade Out

**Disclaimer : Twilight isn't mine *sad face*. Stephenie Meyer … I wish I was you!**

_Here's chapter 2. I hope you guys enjoy it. There's a small authors note for you at the end. Also thanks so much to SuziSpook, goldeyedsoul, LivsMom, .Lover and FireGirl for all reviewing the first chapter =]. _

I half-heartedly dragged myself through the grocery store. I wasn't even paying attention to what I was buying. For all I knew, I could have filled my basket up with several bottles of dishwashing liquid and nothing else.

I wandered around aimlessly, often aware of picking something up off of a random shelf and putting it in the basket. I was also aware of other shoppers gawking at me from time to time, but I paid them no attention.

"Bella?" A gentle female voice said from behind me. I couldn't place the voice but I knew it was familiar. I turned around and my eyes fell upon a heavily pregnant Angela Webber.

"Angela, hi." I said. I accompanied it with what I hoped to be a smile and not a grimace. A look of pain flitted across her face and I suddenly realised that I couldn't remember the last time I had spoken to Angela. If we had talked anytime within the last five years, I sure as hell couldn't remember it.

"How are you?" She asked quietly.

"I'm fine thanks. You're pregnant." I mentally kicked myself. I hadn't asked a question, I had made a statement.

"Yeah, I am." A wide grin spread across her face, she was glowing. "Ben's so excited. He's been reading every baby book he's come across." She laughed.

"I'm so happy for you Angela. I hadn't realized you were still with Ben." She grimaced.

"Bella, Ben and I got married two years ago … I invited you to the wedding, but you never came." Her words weren't angry. She sounded upset more than anything. I hung my head in shame. How could I have been so out of it all these years? So out of it in fact, that I hadn't even acknowledged one of my best friends from high school's wedding? I felt like a terrible person.

"I'm so sorry." I truly meant it and I hoped that even though my voice was incredibly lifeless, she would be able to hear that I was being sincere. "Thing's have just been weird with me." I decided to try and mend some of the cracks in my life and asked Angela to walk with me while I finished picking up random items.

We talked about her the entire time, for which I was glad. I always had hated being the focus of anything and due to the events in my past, I avoided the spotlight now more than ever.

She told me that if the baby was a boy he would be called Benjamin or Benji for short, and if it was a girl she would be named Erin. I smiled at her and told her that I thought those names were beautiful. She filled me in on the things that had been going on with other people that had been in our year.

Apparently Jessica and Mike were still in some sort of on again off again relationship. Tyler and Lauren had eloped … seemingly their parents hadn't approved of their love, and had a 10 month old son. While Eric was working for some very high tech, prestigious company in New York.

Eventually we were both headed out into the parking lot and had to go our separate ways. Angela had given me as best a hug as she could due her rather large bump and told me that if I ever wanted to talk, she was just a phone call or car ride away.

As I made my way back to my truck I realised how lonely I had been all these years. I hadn't had anyone to talk too. In fact I rarely talked at all. I was surprised my voice still worked at all. Talking to Angela had been nice and calming. Even though I was alert, waiting for her to ask me an uncomfortable question about myself, I still felt totally at ease as she filled me in on all that had happened.

I sighed as I pulled out of the lot and headed back to my apartment. When I got there I made a point of checking through my grocery bags to see if I had actually bought anything edible.

As luck would have it I had. So I set about making myself some sandwich's for lunch. The rest of the day was spent cleaning my apartment and zoning out on the couch. Both of which were commonplace for me nowadays. That was pretty much all I ever did.

When Edward had left, it seemed like he had taken my zest for life with him. I had expected, or rather hoped, for it to return to me at some point. But it was yet to make an appearance. My life was truly miserable.

I needed to be able to do something. For five years, I had lived my life with no one to turn to for comfort. I knew I could always talk to Renee or even Angela. But it just wouldn't be the same. The people I wanted were God knows where, doing God knows what, enjoying their immortality.

I wondered if they ever thought about me. I knew they would remember me with their vampire minds. But did they ever _think _about me. The one they left behind. Each one of them meant something to me. Even Rosalie. The one who'd hated me.

They all had such defining qualities that I needed in my life. If I needed someone to cheer me up I'd go to Emmett. If I need someone for advice, it was Carlisle. Esme for the warm, motherly love she always sent me way, and Edward for all those things and so much more.

I yearned for my vampire family. I needed them. I was so lost without them. I was surprised I'd managed to survive this long on my own. It felt as if they had been the glue that held me together and now that they were gone I had fallen apart.

In the beginning it had been Edward I'd missed, and only Edward. As painful as it was my every thought was trained on him. But as time had passed, I had steadily realised what I had lost in losing the rest of my vampire family.

I had thought that, over time, I would have been able to move on with my life. I had never wanted to forget about them. They were amazing people and I wanted to remember them for every single thing they had done for me. But I had hoped that at some point I would be able to have a life outside of my want … no, need for them to come back.

Yet here I was five years later. Still waiting for my life to become bearable. I had resigned myself to the fact that, if it hadn't happened by now it never would. I had already adapted as best I could to this life I was living now. So I was just going to have to learn to deal with this loneliness and heartbreak, indefinitely.

It was a daunting task to say the least. But if it was all I could offer myself, I would have to take it.

After sitting on the couch for who knows how long I got up and decided to go for a walk. It was pretty late, but in a town like Forks I was sure danger wouldn't befall me.

Walking through the quiet and empty streets was comforting. It allowed me to get out of my head ever so slightly seeing as I had to concentrate on where I was going and more importantly, I had to make sure I didn't fall over. Since I didn't have Edward to catch me these days, I found myself, falling or cutting myself by accident or hitting my head off of something more often than not.

I became aware of gentle footsteps behind me, but I paid them no real attention guessing it was just someone who lived in this part of town, walking home.

The footsteps grew steadily louder as the person got closer to me. My stomach clenched nervously, but I knew I was being ridiculous. I was only fearful because it was dark out here. I reminded myself that this was Forks, not some big city where it was common for murderers to roam the streets.

I almost laughed at myself. How ironic that I should state that Forks was as safe a place as any when I had known vampires to reside here in the past, and that there was a pack of gigantic werewolves living only fifteen miles away.

The footsteps were almost right behind me now, so I moved to the inside of the sidewalk to allow the person to pass. I highly doubted they'd want to get stuck behind me as I meandered my way through the streets at a snails pace.

The next thing I knew, someone who felt extremely strong and who I could tell was very tall had grabbed me from behind. Covering my mouth with his hand so that I couldn't scream, the man let out a hollow, disturbing laugh.

My heart was thundering in my chest and my eyes were wide. The man picked me up, with my back still to him, and started walking towards the forest that began to encroach the sidewalk just a few feet away.

After a few seconds my survival instincts kicked in and I began thrashing around in his arms. I tried to make a noise but his hand was still clamped firmly across my mouth. My squirming was to no avail. He was far too strong for me to even have a hope in escaping him.

By now we were amongst the trees but he didn't stop walking until we were too far away for anyone to hear me if I screamed. I frantically thought about what I should do if he let me go. Should I try to run? Even if I got away from him without falling, I would surely get lost leaving the possibility that he could find me again.

Or should I just let him kill me. I knew that was what he was here to do. I could feel it. If I let him kill me, I wouldn't have to live this sorry excuse for a life. I would be free from this world that, over the past five years, had become my own personal hell.

As I was thinking this Edwards face appeared in my head. Even though I thought about them at times, I never usually let myself visualize them. Upon seeing his face, it felt like my heart was breaking and mending itself at the same time. Breaking for what I'd lost, mending for what I had been allowed to look at one more time before I died.

No. I would not die! At least not willingly. I couldn't do that to Edward. Even if he didn't love me anymore, he had at one point. And I knew that if he found out, some how, that I had died without fighting, without caring, it would hurt him.

The man put me down, and spun me around to face him. As he fisted his hand in my hair, real panic began to set in. I wouldn't be able to get away from this. He was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I couldn't see his face, not that I wanted to. My eyesight was blurred due to the tears that had made an appearance. And it was dark. So I would never know my killer. I didn't know if that was better or worse than knowing.

He touched my face with his large hand and I struggled trying to move my head as far away from his hand as was possible, it hurt as my struggles led me to be pulling at the hair that was still fisted in his other hand. It didn't hurt as much as the open handed slap he sent my way though.

I cried out in pain, not in hopes that someone would hear me. It was just something I couldn't control. All of a sudden I had this overwhelming urge to know why I was being taken from this life.

"W-why are y-y-you doing this t-to me?" I chocked through the sobs that were violently shaking my frame. He laughed that hollow laugh again before he answered me.

"It's just a hobby of mine sugar, and you just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He snickered.

I didn't have time to react to his words. His free hand had found it was underneath my t-shirt and I could feel something ice cold pressed against my stomach. A knife. I silently prayed that this wouldn't hurt. He left the knife there for an immeasurable amount of time, before he moved it away. I knew this would be the end.

Without consciously meaning for it to happen my mind started showing me random pictures from my life.

Edward. The rest of the Cullen's. Edward. Charlie. Edward. Renee. Edward. My friends from high school. Edward. Jacob. Edward. The wolf pack. Edward. Edward. Edward. Edward.

And then I felt it. The cool blade plunged into my soft skin. It didn't hurt as much as I thought it would, but it was uncomfortable to say the least. I hoped he would only stab me just the once.

With that he pulled the knife out, not without twisting it painfully first, and let me fall to the ground. I was aware of his running footsteps retreating into the distance but I didn't care about them.

The darkness was beginning to overwhelm me as the images of the people I had loved in my life began to fade away.

I had one more thing I had to establish before I was pulled into the blackness, never to resurface.

_I love you, Edward. _And with that I was gone.

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Well that's irritating. I thought, I'd already died. Yet hear I was vaguely aware of the sounds of the forest that surrounded me.

I felt something move near me. I could hear it sniffing. Probably just an animal. What ever it was leaned across my body. It was very cold but it smelled wonderful. The head of this thing had found its way to my neck.

I wished it would go away and leave me in peace to die, I could feel the blackness threatening to overtake me once again and I welcomed it.

I was just about gone when I heard a beautiful voice speak from just bellow my ear.

"I'm sorry."

And then blinding pain enveloped all of my senses. I wanted to scream but I couldn't. I felt as if I was frozen.

Suddenly I knew that dying this time wasn't going to be as painless or peaceful as the last. A burning sensation was spreading like wildfire through my body and that was the last thing I was aware of.

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**A/N : So I hope you don't hate me for doing this to Bella! But it had to be done, you'll see why soon enough. At the end of the next chapter (which should be up within the next couple of days) there will be a question for you guys, to help me decide on something for the story so look out for that! Please review and let me know what you thought.**

**RachaelRawr. **


	3. Welcome to my World

_**Disclaimer: *sighs* Twilight isn't mine … but a girl can dream … right?**_

_So here's chapter 3 =] Thanks for all the reviews guys I'm glad that you're enjoying my writing =] I hope that I answered any of the questions that some of you had as best I could._

_Remember and look out for my question at the end!_

_Happy Reading._

**?? POV**

It had been a long few days to say the least. Seattle was quite a long way away from Forks. But I liked coming here to hunt regardless. There was something so serene about it, that even in my vampire life, which was supposed to be filled to the brim with bloodlust and barbarianism, that I just had to appreciate. It soothed me to no end.

Being in Seattle, which was full of people, I always somehow felt alone. I was currently attending college for the third time, alone. And after 50 years of solitude I was starting to grow weary of the life I lead.

I had been told by the vampire that had turned me that being a vampire is a lonely life to lead. I had been sceptical of that at first. I didn't see how that could be possible when so few of us in the world shared this odd experience. However, after I made my choice to not feed from humans ( I couldn't bare it. It made me feel utterly barbaric.) and began trying to interact with the ones that chose that way of life, I realised the words he had said, had in fact been true.

I had considered turning someone else, just to keep me company for a little while at least as I showed them the ways of vampire life. But I couldn't bear to remove someone from their life for my own selfishness.

I had been lucky enough to be turned during a life or death situation. I was glad in many ways that I had been turned, it opened up a world of opportunities to me. But if I had known that the loneliness could be so hard and that the silence was always so deafening, I'm not sure if I would have chosen this life for myself.

I had made the decision to go to school and college as it allowed me to interact with people. Or at least that is what I had intended. However people were wary of me. The guys thought I was beautiful but in an intimidating way and it was rare of any of them to approach me, even if it was just to talk. As for the girls … well they just didn't seem to like me at all. I think with them, again it was a case of being intimidated but even the nicer ones didn't like to be around me. They were always cautious and only interacted with me if they absolutely had no other choice.

This was another reason I liked to come to Forks. Although I yearned for friendship and interaction, the lack of it made me constantly crave solitude so that I could try to work things out in my head.

I was running through the forest now at top speed. I had fed. But I just wanted to run for sake of feeling free.

Suddenly I smelled something that made me stop dead in my tracks. Fresh human blood. I heard footsteps retreating in the opposite direction from me. I followed the scent of human blood slowly and carefully. Even though I hated feeding from humans, I couldn't put it past myself not to be tempted by it when it was already there, fresh and mine for the taking.

A faint heartbeat reached my ears. This human was still alive … even if it was touch and go which by the sounds of things, it was.

A thought came to me in that moment. Maybe I could try and change this human. And he or she could become a companion for me. I became excited at this prospect extremely quickly, but then I had to chastise myself. What if this person didn't want to live the same sordid life that I did? Could I really subject another soul to this? … Merely for my own needs?

I decided to wait until I saw this person before I made up my mind. My pace quickened as the excitement I had tried to calm began to bubble over the surface.

The scent of blood grew steadily stronger and the faint heartbeat grew louder to my ears. I came upon a small clearing and there she was. I continued to sniff as I made myself move closer towards her, I could see where the blood was seeping through the front of her shirt. From what I could tell she had been stabbed.

As I got closer to her, I could see her more clearly. She was beautiful to say the least. Her rich mahogany hair was fanned out around her head and it looked silky and luscious. Even, being this close to death she looked peaceful. I doubted she was even conscious.

The scent of her blood was delectable. It made my mouth fill up with venom. As I closed the last remaining distance between us, I knelt by her side. I had my more animalistic side at bay, thankfully. So I knew I wouldn't hurt her. As I looked her over I was battling with myself internally. Should I damn her to this life? Or should I allow her to go into the light?

She was so beautiful and so peaceful. I was sure that given the option she would have chosen any form of life over death. She was young … surely her time shouldn't be up already.

With those thoughts in my mind I made my decision. I sniffed her more as I inched my way closer to her neck. I couldn't be sure if I would be able to control myself once I bit down on her creamy, soft skin and felt the blood pulse into my mouth. But I knew I had to try.

"I'm sorry." I whispered in her ear. I truly was sorry. For the pain she had already experienced here today and to the great pain that I was about to cause her. With that I bit down, right on her jugular vein. Even though her heartbeat was weak I felt it pump the blood into my mouth. Her blood tasted even better than it smelled and I almost lost myself.

I somehow managed to gain control and bent my face down toward her again to sniff. I had to make sure the venom was spreading through her blood stream if it was to even have a hope of healing her. The spot I had bitten down on had closed over, but the venom was spreading slowly. So I took a few other choice areas and bit down in them as well, willing as much venom into her blood stream as I could manage.

After a short while her heartbeat became stronger. More persistent and I knew it was working.

Now I just had to get her out of here. I scooped her up in my arms and told her not to worry, she would be safe with me. And I took off running towards Seattle. All the way home I couldn't shake the internal battle roaring inside my head.

Had I made the right choice?

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**A/N : So my question; What should I name this mystery vampire? I was thinking about naming her Rachael … after myself ha ha! But if any of you would rather see another name up there then by all means let me know and I'll take them all into consideration. The reviewer that gives me the name I decide to use will have the next chapter dedicated to them … as well as having the name they chose laced throughout the rest of this story ^.^ He he thanks in advance for the help guys!**

**Much love,**

**Rachael. **


	4. Surfacing

_**Disclaimer : Twilight isn't mine, it all belong to SM. But the plot lines mine! Yay!**_

_Here's chapter four. Sorry it took me so long to publish it, but it kept running away from me *huffs*. Anyway it's here now so that's all that matters I guess! Ok so the name has been chosen! You'll find what it is a little later on in this chapter and the person who gave me the name was Kristen from the Twilight Forums on Facebook! So thank you Kristen =] This chapter's dedicated to you! To the rest of you who suggested names, thank you so much for helping! I had a really hard time choosing one out of the many you supplied me with but I got therein the end! I hope you guys like the name!_

_I hope you all enjoy it =] . _

**BPOV.**

The inside of my mind was a jumbled mess. I have no idea how long I've been like this. This can't be death. Dying can't possibly take this long and be this painful. It felt like my entire body, both inside and out, was on fire and there was nothing I could do about it. I had tried willing my limbs to move numerous times, but I couldn't twitch so much as a damn finger or toe. I'd contemplated screaming but I gave up on that thought as soon as it crossed my mind. What help would screaming do anyway?

I was aware that I hadn't been coherent the entire time either. Numerous times I had been dragged into the blackness, only to resurface once more and feel the full force of the agony around me.

Something was different this time though. I couldn't be sure of time spans, but I was sure I had been aware for a much longer amount of time than I had been previously. I was faintly aware of noises, but none of them were distinguishable. Also, to my great relief, the fire seemed to be fading.

It was pulling away from my extremities, and the sensation it left behind was utter bliss. However, my heart was pounding persistently. Like it knew it was thumping out its last beats and trying to get as many in before it was time to stop.

Steadily the fire retracted from my entire body and took up residence in my chest, next to my frantic heart. I was relieved that the sensation had left the rest of my body, but having it centred where it was, was terrifying.

Over the period of time that I had been like this I had felt that I had been dying many, many times. But this one seemed to have an air of finality about it and for some reason … this time I was scared about it. I couldn't fathom why things had changed but they had.

I didn't want to die this time. The first time it had been peaceful, the times in between had been bearable. This time it was downright terrifying. Something had changed.

My heart continued its thundering, while I grew steadily more terrified until I was sure I was at the point of near hysteria and then it stopped. My hearts frantic movements had stilled and the fire had gone.

I couldn't help but wonder if I was in some form of limbo. I was aware of the fact my heart had stopped beating … but that's the thing … I'm still aware. I can hear noises. Cars in the street, people talking, someone near me breathing in and out and shuffling footsteps in a hallway. I can smell things, people, animals, food being cooked, trees and plants.

Just then, whatever I was laying on sagged under someone else's weight and before I really knew what I was doing I leapt gracefully off the bed and found myself in a crouching stance looking into a pair of golden eyes.

"Vampire." I stated. I was slightly taken aback by the way my voice sounded. It wasn't the rasp that had become accustomed to me over the past five years, it was clear and bell like. I also couldn't understand why I could all of a sudden see every dust particle floating through the air.

"How did you know?" I recognized that voice. It was the one that said sorry to me before the fire began. It was just then that something clicked in my head.

"Wait … am I a vampire?"

"Yes." Came her simple reply. What on earth. For so long I had begged Edward to make me like him but he had never relented. And now here I was … a vampire. Without him having had anything to do with it. My protective stance let up and for the first time I took in the appearance of the girl in front of me. She was standing on the opposite side of the bed from me, she must have jumped up as soon as I had.

She was very short, but not as short as Alice. She was maybe three inches taller than Alice had been. She had long, perfectly straight blonde hair, her face was beautiful and very kind and then there were her golden eyes.

"You're a vegetarian vampire." I stated once again.

"Yes, I am. How do you know all of this? I thought I was going to have to break you in and you'd freak out or something! That's what most people do you know!?" Even though she was clearly perplexed by my knowledge of what she was, her voice was still gentle not high pitched but not deep either. It was perfectly in between.

"I won't need you to break me in. I know everything there is to know. As for how I know …well that's a long story."

"We have time." She said quirking her eyebrow at me and grinning sardonically. Of course we did. We're immortal. I sighed.

"I used to be in love with a vampire and I was very close with his entire family. That's the short version. Trust me … I'm doing you a favour by not telling the long one." I said and I gave her a small smile, which she returned in kind. A question suddenly popped into my head.

"Why did you change me?" Her smile faltered slightly and she looked to the ground. "Not that I'm not … grateful but I just wanted to know why." I said trying to get her to understand that I wasn't all that bothered by it. It had been something I had wanted for a long time.

"I had been hunting in the forest in Forks, when I smelled your blood. I found my way to you and there you were, lying on the ground bleeding. You looked so young, and as if you had so much more to live for. That and I was lonely. Very lonely and I wanted a companion. It was selfish of me I know that, and I hope that you can one day forgive me for that, but it just felt like I was making the right choice." She looked up at me, her eyes full of regret for what she had bestowed upon me.

"It's really not a big deal," I said and smiled at her, trying to get her to realise that I was sincere when I said I didn't mind about being changed. "I used to beg Edward and the rest of his family to change me on frequent occasions. You gave me what I wanted … they didn't."

As I said that I began to feel sort of hollow. Yes I had what I wanted. But I didn't have the reason why I wanted this. I had dreamed of being with Edward forever and here I was with forever in front of me … and no Edward.

"Edward? Was he the vampire you loved?"

"Yes … he still is."

"Oh. Then why aren't you with him anymore? What happened?" She asked in a gentle tone.

"I'm sorry … I don't really want to talk about this right now," I desperately had to change the subject. Talking about Edward would hurt, and I didn't want to feel hurt and broken right now. "What's your name?" I asked hoping like hell she wouldn't realise what I was doing.

She shot me a knowing smile but answered my question anyway.

"My name is Madison Pierce but for the love of God, please just call me Maddy." She chuckled lightly. "What about you?"

"My name is Isabella Swan but for the love of God, please just call me Bella." I said chuckling as well. I was astounded by how relaxed I was in her presence, there was just something about her that reminded me of myself. Besides she had already admitted to being lonely, so then she had no reason to turn on her one companion.

I sat back down on the bed and she joined me.

"How long have you been like this?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't take offence to my question … or any of the others I was waiting to attack her with.

"Fifty years, I was turned in April 1969 a month after my 20th birthday." She said smiling at me again. "I think I pull off being seventy years old quite well to be honest." She snickered. There it was again. She had the same dumb sense of humour about her as I did. I was pretty sure she could pull off sarcasm pretty well too, if she tried. I laughed along with her before asking my next question.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you become a vampire? Was it a random act? Or were you saved?"

"I was saved like you. My father was abusive. I moved out of our family home to get away from him on my eighteenth birthday. I felt bad for leaving my mom, I begged her to come with me but she wouldn't. Despite his abuse she loved him. One night I came back home just to see them, I hadn't seen them for two years by this point and I thought it'd be a nice surprise for my mom at least. I also thought I'd be able to get out of there before my dad could turn violent. I was wrong. I'll spare you the detail but he beat me to a pulp and dragged me into an alley a few blocks away from our house and left me to die. A vampire called Michael saved me. Taught me the ways and then left me. I've been alone ever since." I was stunned into silence for a few minutes.

"I'm so sorry." I was fairly certain that had I still been human I would have been tearing at least, if not crying. I would never be able to understand people who beat their children, it's disgusting.

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault, you have nothing to be sorry for. And besides, I've come to terms with it since then." I nodded my head dumbly, not even knowing what to say next. We sat in silence for what could have been a very long time before she spoke.

"So what did you do before I turned you? Did you work or …" She left the question open ended.

"I was a very poorly paid journalist for a local newspaper. I didn't get work often, it's a wonder I actually made it through the last few years without running out of money. What do you do with your infinite time?" I asked.

" I'm currently studying Psychology at Seattle University. I find it's easier to just stay in the schooling system. It means I can stay in a place longer without having question drawn to my lack of aging."

"Yeah, Edwards family did that." I started picking at the comforter not knowing where to go from here. My old insecurities set in. I didn't want to walk this world alone, and yes she said she wanted company, but now she'd gotten to know me a bit … would she still want me as a cohort? I highly doubted it. I wasn't much fun to be around.

"So, do you think you'd be okay with that?" She asked. "I know school is unbelievably boring and we don't have to do it all the time I promise, it's just something to pass the time in between." She sounded worried, as if she was thinking I might take off on my own.

"Are you sure you wouldn't mind me sticking around?" I asked, hoping she wouldn't ask me to leave.

"Bella!" She chastised. "Were you listening to me at all? I'm not about to let the one person I've had more than a five minute conversation with in half a century get away." She laughed. "Sorry if that sounds like I'm taking you hostage … but seriously if you decide to leave I might have to." I laughed with her. I knew she was joking for the most part, but I wasn't going to put it past her to try and escape anyway.

"Well then," I started after we'd settled down a bit. "I think I can handle going through High School again." I said and then something hit me.

"Crap!" I shouted.

"What!?"

"I'm twenty-three!" I whined. "No one will believe I'm even eighteen let alone sixteen."

"Are you seriously twenty-three?" I nodded. "Don't worry then Bella, there isn't going to be a problem. I mean I thought you looked younger than I do and besides some kids just look more mature than others. With all the right documentation they won't be able to dispute your age anyway." I let out the breath I'd been holding in, feeling relieved. "Now …lets go hunt up some deer, you're throat must be burning like hell!"

In all honesty it hadn't been, until she mentioned it. That was going to take some getting used to. It was unbelievably uncomfortable to say the least.

Even with the fire burning in the back of my throat, I could only feel relief flooding through me. I had a whole new life ahead of me. I had a fresh start, with someone I was sure I was going to become good friends with. But there was still one question nagging at me from the back of my mind.

What was I going to do about Edward?

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**A/N : So, what did you guys think? Good? Bad? Awful? Leave a review and let me know! Also let me know what you thought of the name! I think the next chapter is going to be a time jump chapter, so it won't be from immediately after these events. However, if you don't want that to happen drop me a review and let me know and I'll see what I can do! Thanks guys!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	5. Sound Of Pulling Heaven Down

_**Disclaimer : Twilight still isn't mine. I'm gutted to say the least.**_

_Ooo that's right. Two updates in one day! I love you guys and I realized I took my time with chapter four so I figured I'd give you all a wee treat … in the form of a Jacob POV. Oh also look out for a rather large authors note at the end. Sorry about that in advance! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter =]._

**JacobPOV**

Why am I still running patrol around here? All the vampires are long gone and yet Sam still insists that we do it every damn day. It was taking up my time for no good reason and was really starting to annoy me.

I'd been considering going to see Bells soon. I hadn't seen her or heard from her in a long time. Which was my fault, but that didn't mean that didn't want to check up on her from time to time.

After the leeches left, and after Charlie died, Bella had become a hollow shell of a person. She was utterly broken and it broke my heart to be around her. In the beginning I had tried to be there for her but she wouldn't let me in and I couldn't look into those big chocolate brown eyes everyday and see that she had given up.

Because that's exactly what she'd done. She gave up. She didn't live life. She merely existed. I felt like a terrible person for abandoning her in her time of need. But it was tearing me apart. I couldn't concentrate on anything and even when I did go and see her occasionally, she had never turned back into the Bella she used to be, the girl I knew and loved. She hadn't … because she couldn't. She couldn't find it in herself to let go of _Edward _and move on. And that fact hurt me as well.

_Hey? Jake?_

_Seth, what is it._

_You need to go back home. Billy has important news._

_About what?_

_I don't know Jake. I was just told to deliver the message._

Without bothering to reply, or brake stride, I turned back into my human form and pulled on my old pair of shorts before jogging back to the house. Luckily I hadn't been far away to begin with.

"Dad? Dad what is it?" I yelled as I burst through the door, ducking my head to avoid hitting it off of the bar, like I'd done so many times before. He rolled out of the living room, staring intently at the floor.

"You gonna tell me what this news is?" I asked, becoming impatient.

"I need you to go to Bella's apartment." He said in his deep voice.

"Okay … but why? I'd been planning on going to see her anyway." I replied, I couldn't understand why he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Son, she might not be there. Renee called me about half an hour ago. She was absolutely frantic. She hasn't heard from Bella in months." He said finally looking me in the eye. All I could think about was what I was going to do if something had happened to her.

"Take a few of the pack with you … just in case." He said solemnly. Crap! This was going to be bad, I could feel it.

Without saying another word to Billy I ran from the house into the trees, getting out of my shorts and trying desperately to wind them through the leather tie on my leg quickly. Finally I got it done and took on my wolf form.

_Guys? Guys? Whose all here? Sam I need to talk to you right now! _

_I'm right here Jacob. _Came Sam's calm mental voice. _What do you need?_

_We have to go to Forks right now. Renee hasn't heard a thing from Bella in months and my dad thinks something might have happened to her._

_Where are you just now Jake?_

_Just in the woods outside my house._

_Ok stay there until we get there. Seth, Embry you come too._

I waited there for what felt like an eternity. I came close to running off on my own several times before I finally heard their thundering footfalls.

_About time! _I snarled. Sam didn't pay any attention to my insubordination.

_Ok we're heading to Forks right now. We'll change into human form in the woods at the back of Bella's apartment block._

The three of us barked our approval and with that we took off.

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I climbed the stairs to her apartment three at a time, Sam, Seth and Embry followed close behind me.

I carelessly tossed aside the small potted plant to the right of her front door and lifted the key from under it.

"Jake, don't you think we should knock first? She might be in there." Embry said quietly.

"No, damn being polite right now, I have to know if she's ok." I unlocked the door and let myself in and was hit by a familiar sickly sweet smell. Sam spoke first.

"A vampire's been in here." Way to state the obvious.

"Reckon one of the Cullen's came back for her?" Seth asked, sniffing.

"No. I would recognize their sent. This was someone I've never come across before." I said before moving further into the apartment. I couldn't smell Bella. Well I could, but her scent wasn't fresh it was months old … older than the sickly vampire smell that was currently infiltrating my nose.

I opened the door to her bedroom, I knew she wasn't there but I just had to make sure anyway. Her drawers where all open and had been emptied, her closet doors were open as well with nothing inside.

"Jacob, there's a note on the coffee table." Sam said from somewhere behind me. I whipped round and headed towards him. I picked up the note and read it aloud.

**To whoever may find this,**

**I'm sorry, but I had to leave. I just couldn't stay here any longer, Forks holds too many memories for me. Both good and bad. Yet they both hurt me equally as much. **

**I have left to make myself a new life away from here, where I can hopefully give myself a fresh start. I know that some people will be hurt by my sudden departure. But please understand, if I ever want to be happy again… this is how it has to be. **

**I've changed my name, so please don't try looking for me. It will be a waste of your time and I couldn't bare to know that even in my departure I was still affecting your lives in some way. **

**Whoever you are, can you please relay this message to my mother. I will be forever in your debt. Thank you.**

**I'm sorry mom. I love you and I'll miss you. **

**Bella.**

I heaved a sigh. She was gone. And she wasn't coming back. I was instantly thankful, however, that she'd made it out of here before this vampire appeared. There wouldn't have been anyone around to save her this time. A silent tear broke free from my eye and I swiped it away quickly and felt Sam pat me on the back.

"Come on, we should probably go." I said, my voice raw with emotion. The love of my life was gone. Even though I hadn't been around much, I still loved her more than anyone else in this world. And every time I came to see her I hoped that she would be getting better. Now I would never know if she made it or not.

"Is there anyway we can track the vampire who was here?" Seth asked. What a stupid question. I mentally kicked myself. He was new to this. I shouldn't be so harsh towards him, even if it is just inside my head.

"No." Came Sam's reply. "The rain will have washed the scent away, we couldn't even smell it in the hallway. Whoever it was is long gone and there's nothing we can do to catch up with him at this point."

I left her apartment in a daze. Not fully aware of the fact that my feet were moving one in front of the other. My mind was on Bella. Where had she gone? What had she chosen for her new name? Would she be ok? It came as a shock to me when I realized we were all of a sudden outside and heading back into the forest.

I told Sam and the others to head home without me. I didn't want them knowing my thoughts right now, so instead I opted for walking home in human form. I tried to think about other things, but Bella was all I could come up with.

At some point while I was walking it began to rain, which I was thankful for. It was disguising my tears. I was oblivious to the stares of the people around me. I didn't care about them. Damn, I didn't even care about myself. All I cared about was a girl who was who knows where. A girl I would never see again.

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**A/N : So I got a review on chapter four, that made me realise I might have said something that would spark some confusion in some of you. I didn't think to air out the finer parts because I thought you'd all get it. Of course I didn't take into account the fact that I would understand it simply because I'm writing it and I know what happens =P. When Maddy asks Bella about going to school she doesn't mean right now, she means in the future she just wanted to make sure that, that would be something Bella would be up for doing. We all know Bella can't go to school right now …she'd probably end up massacring everyone there! Not to mention her crazy red eyes would probably freak a few people out!**

**So now that that's cleared up onto my next question. I was thinking of maybe adding a lemon later on in this story, but that would mean changing the rating to "M". So if anyone would feel uncomfortable with that let me know now! I'm not sure for definite yet if I will write one as I'm not sure if I'd be any good at it and I'd be kinda shy about it but it was just an idea! Anyhoozle let me know what you think. If even one person is against the idea I will call it off but I might put it up as an outtake with an M rating if any of you do want to read something like that!**

**Thanks for reading guys! Reviews are love!**

**Rachael.**


	6. What Hurts The Most

_**Disclaimer : *huffs* It's not mine, ok? We've been over this before!**_

_Chapter 6! Yaaaaay. I've not got much to say up here for once haha! But look out for an authors note at the end! Thanks so much for all the reviews I really, really appreciate them! This chapter's dedicated to LivsMom because her review for chapter 4 had me giggling =P._

**RosaliePOV**

Damn, I look good. I wished more than anything that my eyes were still the stunning, individual violet colour they had been in my human life, but I guess it doesn't really matter. I pull off the gold pretty well.

I ran a brush through my hair and then continued to admire my reflection in the mirror. Everyone was out hunting except for Edward and I. I didn't have to, I'd hunted yesterday on my own and Edward rarely hunted anymore anyway. And when he did, he went alone.

I knew it wouldn't be worth but I figured it might do him some good if he had some company. So I pried myself away from the mirror and headed downstairs.

He was sitting on the piano bench just staring at the keys. I didn't know whether to feel sorry for him or be condescending. To be fair it was pretty pathetic. How could he let some insignificant human girl get such a hold on him. I would never understand it.

In the past fifteen years he hasn't played that damn thing once. Nor has he smiled … that I've seen anyway. He doesn't even read our thoughts anymore. He constantly blocks them in case any of us are thinking about Bella, which I know the majority of the rest of our family will be.

Esme loved her, and had already accepted her as a daughter. So had Carlisle. Jasper still felt overwhelmingly guilty for being the one who set this whole damn mess in motion. Alice missed her because she was her best friend. And Emmett missed watching her fall over constantly, he felt like he'd lost a sister in losing her.

As for me … well I missed how stupid she could be at times.

"Are you going to play?" I asked in as sweet a voice as I could muster. He looked up at me with dead eyes.

"No." Something inside me snapped. I couldn't explain why, but it just had and before I knew it I was screaming at him.

"Edward! You have got to stop this! You're tearing our whole family apart over some stupid human girl! You chose to leave Bella. That was your choice, not ours and yet here we all are suffering the consequences. Damn it, Edward I wasn't even close to her, hell I didn't even like her and I miss her!"

"Esme, Alice and Emmett miss her greatly, Jasper is _still _guilty after fifteen years and on top of that everyday we have to look at you, moping around all the time. You don't do anything. You don't play or listen to music, you don't write in your journals. You don't talk to any of us unless it's vitally necessary. You don't even fight with us anymore! You used to be the most versatile person in this family!"

"I have nothing to fight for, Rosalie" He said in a monotone voice.

"What about us Edward? Your family! Are we not worth the fight? You're slowly but surely losing us all. And it's not even because of us, it's because you constantly push us away." I stopped shouting for a minute to see if he had anything else to say, but he wasn't even looking at me anymore. He'd returned his attention to the damn piano keys.

"Ugh… I give up Edward, you aren't even worth my time." I snapped before storming out of the house and began running through the woods. I wanted to be far enough away from him so he wouldn't be able to hear me.

Once I was far enough away I sat down with my back against an old oak tree and let the tearless sobs rip through my body. I sat there for a long time just thinking over everything that had happened. I hated seeing Edward like this. Especially now that I knew what he looked like when he was truly happy. Before he had found Bella he had been almost as bad as this. But he talked to us then, he played music, he did things he enjoyed. But now everything he does reminds him of her. And because of that he can't find it in himself to do anything.

In that moment I truly hated the cold exterior I wore. It was a defence mechanism, I know that but for once I just wish I could act like the loving, caring sister.

I am a loving caring sister, I just can't find it within me to let my walls down. I want him to be able to come to me, to talk to me. But he never has and probably never will. Even if he does talk to somebody it won't be me. I know that in this family, I'm at the bottom of his list. I can't say I blame him. It's my own damn fault.

I love my entire family. I would do anything for them, they know that but they never ask anything of me. They stay out of my way, they always have and that hurts. If Bella would have been the only thing to ever make Edward truly happy I would have learned to embrace her as a sister. In fact I'm sure I would have grown to love her. That girl was clumsy as hell … but it was kind of endearing how she we would always get up and keep going. And I admired how she could put Edward in his place, that man was so stubborn at times but so was Bella. They were a perfect match for each other.

It was then that Emmett found me and wrapped me in his massive arms.

"Baby, what's wrong?" He asked after pulling me onto his lap and nuzzling his face in my hair.

"Edward." I choked out.

"What happened? What did he do? What did he say to you?" Emmett asked sounding a mixture of anxious, angry and surprised.

"Nothing. That's the problem. Why can't he just get over her already! I need him back! He's my brother and I love him and I can't stand him being like this all the time." Emmett shushed me and rocked me side to side for a bit before answering.

"Rosie, baby. Edward was in love. You know what that's like, can you imagine if that had happened to us? We sure as hell wouldn't recover quickly either, but its more than that. It's the fact that he left her with the notion that he didn't love her anymore, that he never really had. The last words he got to utter to the love of his life were a lie. And that's something he can never ever change, he'll have to live with that for eternity. He doesn't mean to hurt us, it's just out of his control. We just need to be patient with him babe. Someday, hopefully sooner rather than later he'll come round. Until then we just have to stand by him. It'll be hard. But we owe it to him." He finished and kissed me on the head. I nodded into his chest. I knew he was right.

It was moments like this when I knew Emmett was the right man for me. He could be such a goofball at times, but when it came to his family he spoke from the heart.

We stayed like that all night, me crying tearlessly and him comforting me. After the sun came up we headed home. As I walked in the front door I noticed that Edward was sitting on the piano bench again. I sighed inwardly wondering if he had been there all night.

Emmett excused himself and asked the rest of the family, who had been sitting in the living area just staring at Edward, to go with him. I gave him a small smile, thanking him for letting me do such an un-Rosalie-ish thing in private. After they'd all cleared out, I sat down next to Edward and turned to face him.

"Edward … look I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things yesterday. It was horrible of me and I should have been thinking about you and your needs instead of my own. I just wanted you to know that this has been hard for all of us … but I probably could have done that in a more tactful way. I love you Edward even though you've always been the moodiest person I know, I just want you to be happy and if you can't find it in you to be happy… then can you please just let us in. We want to help you but you just won't let us." I continued looking at him even after I'd finished speaking. Willing him to say something.

"Thank you. I'm sorry for what I've been putting you all through. I can't promise anything will change, but I can promise that I'll try." He was still speaking in monotone but at least he was speaking. I thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea to try and get more out of him today. So I stood up, but bent back down and kissed his cheek before wrapping my arms around his neck and hugging him into me. He patted me on the hand as thanks.

It wasn't much, but finally we were getting somewhere.

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**A/N : I hope you guys enjoyed it =]. I know that doesn't seem like the way Rosalie would be, but I like to think that she isn't really just a cold, heartless, vain person. I hope you don't mind me conveying that =P. Oh also the vampire that was in Bella's apartment was ………………. Bella. She returned to leave the note so that Renee wouldn't think that worst had happened to her, and spend years looking for someone she would never find. A lot of people were thinking it might be Victoria or Laurent, it wasn't in this case but I have a funny feeling we might come across one of them again sometime in the future … eek! Ha ha Please review people! I still have to reply to some from the last chapter I think … sorry about that! I promise I will try and reply to every review but remember if you're not signed in when you do so, I can't reply and answer your questions!**

**Also if you have twitter : twitter(dot)com/RachaelRawr**

**Drop me an reply if you like =]**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	7. Thanks for the Memories

_**Disclaimer : Nope, it's still not mine.**_

_Chapter 7! There's a little bit of comic relief in this chapter, or at least I hope you'll find it funny … maybe I'm just an idiot … which is highly likely haha! But anyway I just wanted to lighten the mood a wee bit because all the previous chapters have been pretty angst … but have no fear this chapter has it's fair share of angst too =P! I hope you guys enjoy it!_

**BellaPOV**

So, today marks my ten year anniversary of being a vampire. Its been an amazing experience. Although it has been hard at times. Because of the life Maddy and I lead, as high school students, it can be extremely monotonous. This is only my second time through high school, first as a vampire, and already I'm bored to my wits end.

Last year was definitely harder than this year though. There was a senior Alison Bell, she was really nice and sweet, kind to everybody. Why did that make last year hard? Because her blood made my mouth fill up with venom so fast I was pretty sure I was about to start drooling every time I was near her.

I used to have constant internal battles with myself. Part of me wanted so badly to just steal her, take her far away and drink her blood. My rational side kept me in check though, constantly reminding me that I did not want to be a murderer.

Thankfully she's graduated now and is off to college in California, so I don't have to worry about running into her again anytime soon.

As expected nobody really talks to us. We're "admired from afar" as Maddy puts it. I can understand it though. Not every human being is dumb enough to befriend vampires, their survival instinct tells them to steer clear away from us both … I often wonder how my survival instinct could have been so faulty. I don't regret that it didn't keep me away from the Cullen's, it's just … well what if Edward hadn't been able to control himself? I would have been left for dead somewhere and that would have broken Charlie's heart.

We're currently staying in Ketchikan, Alaska. When I first came here I was constantly jumpy, and nervous and scanning every face in every crowd … watching for Edward. I'd never heard of the Cullen's coming here and besides it was pretty far away from Denali anyway, but I just think I was hoping that one day I'd see him even just from afar. So that I could take in his beautiful face, just once, with my perfect vision and perfect memory, and keep him with me always.

I can remember exactly what he looks like, it's just all my human memories are blurry and muddled and I can't help but feel like I've lost some of my most vital memories with him. It annoys me to no end.

I've thought many times about going and finding him. Just to let him know that I've become a vampire and that I'm safe and as happy as is possible given the circumstances. Also I just want to know how he is. Has he fallen in love again … well for real this time? That piece of information would hurt but if it was making him happy then I can't argue with it. I really want to see the rest of the Cullen's as well just so I can see for my self that Alice is still a shopoholic pixie, and that Emmett's still making crude jokes at everyone else's expense and that Carlisle's still as compassionate as ever.

But I decided against it. I loved him, and I loved them but Edward had made the choice to leave me. He didn't love me anymore and at least he had had the courtesy to let me know that and so he shouldn't have to be haunted by me when he had already let me go.

Even though Edwards decision to leave me wasn't ideal, I can't find it in myself any more to wish it had never happened. It was the best thing for him, and because of it I found Maddy. Which I am thoroughly grateful for. She truly is an amazing person she never pushes me, she listens to me and to top that off we haven't argued once in ten years.

I lost a love but I found a best friend. After a couple of years I had decided to confide in her everything that happened in my human life … that I remembered anyway. She felt for me, but she never made me feel like she was pitying me. Also she took it upon herself to find ways to distract me, which was always highly amusing and usually resulted in us narrowly avoiding getting into trouble.

We've come across various other vampires also. Which has its good points and its bad points. The good points being that we get to hear of things that have been going on in the vampire world. Although to me that was bad news at one point.

We met a pair of vampire Chris and Suzie who had recently been in and around Forks. They told us that they met Victoria there. I hated remembering that conversation it chilled me to the bone every time.

*cue flashback*

"Victoria?" I asked, stunned.

"Yes. Do you know her?" Chris eyed me in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable for some reason.

"Well … no not directly. But I've heard of her before." I lied, thankful that I now didn't have my blush to betray me.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Chris continued, Suzie had hardly spoken a word since we met her. She was very quiet, reserved. "We used to know a vampire named Laurent, he was a very good friend of ours and we had been seeking him out. Our search lead us to Forks where we met Victoria. She told us that he had been killed by some beasts that live on the La Push reservation. You," He said looking at me. "if you know of Victoria, do you know what her power is?"

"No, I don't. I told you I didn't know her well. I only met with her once." To be fair I wasn't really lying.

"Well her power allows her to escape before being captured, or hurt. She feels some sort of magnetic pull if you will, that leads her out of harms way. That's how she managed to escape, but she watched as Laurent was torn apart by those beasts. She says she regrets that she couldn't help him, but they were greatly out numbered. It's such a shame for her losing James and then Laurent." Chris gazed off into the distance for a while, I couldn't even guess what he was thinking about and I didn't even want to try. I wanted to leave and get as far away from them as possible. They had been in contact with a vampire who had been after my life … who was probably _still _after my life.

"Bella." Chris said. I was confused, he wasn't asking a question he had simply said my name.

"Yes?" I asked unsure of what to do or say.

"Victoria told us that if we ever came across a girl or Vampire named Bella, with the last name either Swan or Cullen … that we should kill her." He began eyeing me suspiciously again. Now I understood why he was looking at me like that earlier. I laughed, it sounded strained to my ears but I hoped they wouldn't pick up on it, thankfully Maddy played along.

"If you're insinuating that I'm that Bella, I'm sorry to say you're wrong." I said.

"Well, what's your last name then." Suzie snapped. I was shocked and even jumped at little, I hadn't been expecting her to speak at all, let alone in that manner.

"Pierce." I said, thankful yet again that I was telling the truth. I'd taken on Maddys last name to prevent people from my past finding me.

"Yes, we're sisters." Maddy said smiling brightly at them. If this situation had been less severe, I would probably have laughed at her. She looked ridiculous with the massive grin stretched across her face, and the way she was bobbing up and down as if with excitement, as if she were really wishing that was true. Suzie simply huffed and Chris nodded at us without saying another word.

*end flashback*

I shuddered and Maddy looked at me, quirking her eyebrow questioning me.

"Just a flashback." I whispered, shuddering again. We were in English, it was our second last class of the day. She nodded at me and went back to her essay. I tried to do the same thing but my mind was elsewhere. It wasn't until I felt a sharp tap on my right arm that I was brought back to the present. Maddy was shaking violently due to a silent case of the giggles, I was totally bemused. I couldn't understand what was making her laugh like that.

She pulled back a note that she had evidently placed on my desk sometime during my daydreaming, and began writing on it again, before passing it back.

**Hey, want to ditch gym? I really, really don't want to go. Can we go hunting or something instead? - God Bella, you had the dumbest expression on your face just now, I swear I nearly burst from trying to not laugh out loud. **

I chuckled to myself quietly and returned the note.

**Sure, sounds good. Oh shut up, like you never day dream! I swear it's because of your face sometimes, that people don't talk to us!**

I glanced at Maddy who looked utterly shocked. She added more to the note, scrunched it up and threw it at my head.

**Bella Pierce … that was just hurtful. But fine, be that way. Because you smell funny! HA!**

I just laughed and chose not to write back to her. These note wars could get vicious sometimes, even if we were only kidding. I sighed. I finally noticed what she was up to. She was distracting me … again! Well thank God for that, I didn't feel like getting depressed right now. After what felt like forever the bell finally rang and we headed to the front office to excuse ourselves. The receptionist looked at us disbelievingly when we told her we both had Doctors appointments, but let us go none the less.

We ran for a long time before stopping to hunt, which did me a lot of good. My head was clear for what felt like the first time in a long time. We had split up so that we could hunt on our own for a bit when I heard roaring coming from my far right. Then I distinctly heard Maddy roar. What the hell was she doing? I ran towards the source of the noise.

When I got there, I just stood for about half a second before falling to ground laughing.

I must say seeing Maddy, who's a whole 5 foot 1 inch tall, wrestle with a gigantic bear had to be the funniest thing I'd ever seen. It would roar at her and she'd roar right back. She ducked in between its legs, causing the poor thing to fall over as it tried to see where she was going.

It carried on like that for quite sometime, until she felt too sorry for the bear to continue winding him up. She didn't even kill it! You'd think after tormenting an animal like that for over an hour you'd at least do it the service of putting it out of its misery!

After that we decided to head home. I was pleased with what had transpired today. Even though the day had started out pretty grim, it ended well. I found myself wondering what I would have done if it hadn't been Maddy that had changed me. What if it had been someone who just told me what I was and what not to do and then left me? I don't think I would have coped well on my own. I'd probably have ended up trying to commit some sort of vampire suicide … if that's even possible.

I guess I shouldn't dwell on that thought. Because thankfully it's not like that for me. I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm one of the ones who … Edward.

I felt like I had just ran into a brick wall. I could smell him. I could smell Edward, I swear I could. I tried to follow the trail and in doing so I veered away from Maddy.

"Bella? Bella! Where are you going? Bella that's the wrong way!" She shouted after me. But I didn't reply I couldn't, I had to follow this trail, I had to find out what it led to. I could hear Maddy chasing after me, but I really wasn't paying her any attention.

I came to a stop at the edge of a large lake, the trail had disappeared. Whoever it was, Edward or not, had taken off into the water. There was no way I could follow them now. Damn it.

"Bella!" Maddy said finally appearing beside me. "What is it? What were you running after?" I didn't answer her, she shook me, I still didn't answer. "Bella, come on! You have to tell me!" I finally looked her in the eye and said one word.

"Edward." I saw comprehension dawn across her face.

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**A/N : Ooo bit of a cliffy there! Don't worry all will be explained in the next chapter, which will probably be a relatively short one, but have no fear the one after that will be a double POV chapter so that should be nice and long. **

**Thanks for reading please leave a review and let me know it you liked it =]**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael. **


	8. Thinking of You

_Disclaimer : Twilight is owned by Stephenie Meyer. Not me._

_**Sorry it took so long for me to get this chapter out! Real life has been kicking my butt something awful! Ha! Anyways its here now so yaaaay! I'd like to thank everyone that's reviewed, seriously you guys rock my socks! I know this is a short chapter, I hope you guys don't hate me for it! Especially seeing as the next chapter has the potential to be the biggest one yet ;] he he! **_

**EdwardPOV.**

It had been a month since I'd seen my family. After the whole debacle with Rosalie I decided that the best thing I could do would be to give them some space. They deserved it. My family consisted of couples in love, with the exception being me. They needed time to be together and appreciate each other without having to endure me moping around … which I had been for the last fifteen years.

Of course I hadn't told them that had been the reason why I left. If I had they would never have let me go alone, they would have told me I was being ridiculous and that what I needed right now was my family by my side. But I wasn't being ridiculous. They needed time to be together and I needed time on my own.

So for the past month I had been travelling as slowly as I could through Canada and now I found myself in Alaska. I was steering clear of Denali. Ever since I had left Bella, Tanya had become more insufferable than ever before. She was constantly trying to push herself on me regardless of what I, or the rest of my family told her. It was disgusting. I sighed.

Bella.

I shouldn't think about her. It would just open up my wounds again, but I couldn't help it. Everything in my life reminded me of her. She was impossible to forget about. She was so ingrained into my memory that I couldn't not think about her … ever.

I find myself searching every face in every crowd, just in case she might be there. I'm not sure what I would do if I ever found her again. I promised her that she wouldn't hear from me ever again and I knew I should keep that promise … but I didn't know if I would be able to stop myself if she was right there in front of me.

It was at times like this I cursed my vampire memory. I could remember every tiny detail about her. The exact shade of her mahogany hair, the exact chocolate brown colour of her eyes, the way her lips felt, the sound of her voice, the way her skin felt so soft and warm under my fingertips … every single scar. Every single thing I loved about her played out in my mind. And I hated it because it made me feel hollow, alone and lost.

Bella would be thirty-two by now going on thirty-three and I couldn't help but wonder about how her life had played out. I wondered what she would look like, what she had done with her life. Had she met someone and married them? Did she have beautiful children with big chocolate brown eyes and long lashes?

Did she ever think about me?

In a selfish way I hoped that she did. Not so that it would hurt her, but so that she'd remember the good times we had together. I hoped like hell she never thought about her god awful eighteenth birthday or the events after it. Damn Jasper.

I shouldn't blame Jasper … I shouldn't have allowed her into my life in the first place, but it was easier to blame him. He was the catalyst. It was because of him that I finally saw sense and chose to leave before she had to die an unnecessary and probably painful death.

I sighed and sat down on the bank of a large lake. It was beautiful here, I can be sure of that. But without Bella I cannot appreciate it, like so many other things.

I can no longer appreciate the sound of music, nor can I appreciate the written word. Laughter and amusement seem fickle to me. Without Bella it all means nothing.

A breeze blew past me then and the smell overwhelmed me. There was a faint hint of freesia and strawberries on the wind like it was taunting me. Or maybe it was just my psyche trying to help fix me by making it feel like she was close to me somehow.

I had to come to terms with the fact that I would never be near her again. She would always be the love of my life, the only woman to ever cross my mind in the way she had. But she could never be mine. I had to protect her from me … from herself. If I had stayed and one of us hadn't killed her, she would have talked me round to turning her. It was what she thought she wanted, but this life wasn't for the faint at heart.

Bella was strong … but I couldn't find it in me to believe she was strong enough for this.

My musings were interrupted by the sounds of roaring in the distance … accompanied by laughter. I didn't quite know what to make of that, but I was glad it had broken through my thoughts of Bella. If I kept thinking about her I would never be able to stop.

With that I stood up fluidly and threw myself into the lake, where the scent of freesia and strawberries couldn't touch me anymore.

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**A/N : I know, I know. It's really short but I had to clear up that cliffy from the end of the last chapter. So I bet your wondering why Edward couldn't hear Maddys thoughts huh? Well I have a funny feeling it might have something to do with her power. On the note of powers, I'm gonna start taking suggestions for what you think Bella's power should be. I don't know whether to stick with the saga and keep her as a shield or change it completely! Let me know what you think!**

**Also seriously guys thanks for the reviews! If we make it to a hundred overall reviews on this chapter I'm going to squeal so loud you'll all probably be able to hear it! I'll try and be quick with the next chapter I promise!**

**Love much,**

**Rachael.**


	9. The Downfall of us All

_Disclaimer : Stephenie Meyer owns Twilight. I own and insanely hairy dog! Do you think she'd trade?_

_**Chapter 9 =] I've not got much to say up here really. So enjoy and please, please review!**_

**BellaPOV.**

The last ninety years have been somewhat uneventful. They've been enjoyable it's just not much has happened. No vampires have come after me … that I've been aware of and that makes a change … a change that I'm glad for.

I've managed to attain several degrees in Psychology, Sociology, Journalism, English Literature and a few more, I'm quite proud of myself for once.

We've spent the majority of our time in America, although we did go to Scotland about fifty years ago. Now that was fun. We met a vampire named Lorna, we still keep in touch with her actually. She's without a doubt one of the funniest people I've ever met. She rivals both Maddy and Emmett for the top spot.

We also came across some real Children of the Moon. It was terrifying … they really don't like vampires and even that's an understatement. We had decided to travel a bit and ended up right smack bang in the middle of their territory. Luckily Maddy and I are pretty fast and we made it out without major incident but that doesn't make the memory any less horrifying.

As for the Edward situation, I had asked Maddy to keep me away from him. She wasn't to let me look for him … which worked out just fine for a while. She'd distract me with anything she could. But I grew tired of that after a while and … well … I made a run for it.

When I first met Maddy I had come to conclusion in my head that I wouldn't put it past her to hold me hostage if I tried to escape her. Well in the end she chased me half way across the country and finally caught me. I knew I shouldn't have put it past her.

We very nearly got arrested, I happened to be in LAX at the time. I was lucky I could even be there in the first place, Los Angeles was being plagued with rain so that alone made it possible. Anyway for some reason I had decided to fly to Denali because that's were my frazzled mind thought it would be most likely for him to be.

I was just walking up to the departures lounge when something small and very, very hard tackled me in front of a crowd of fellow passengers. We ended up getting into a mild scuffle which consisted of Maddy trying to pin me down and me trying to wiggle away. What made it worse was that as vampires when it comes to strength and speed we're pretty much an equal match, so neither one of us could gain an upper hand.

Eventually security and law enforcement made an appearance and there was nothing we could do but let them drag us apart. If two, hundred and ten pound girls were able to over power fully grown men, who were trained to take down people that in general should be much stronger than us … I'm pretty sure it would have raised some suspicion.

The officers asked me if I wanted to press charges, and at the time I was so angry that Maddy had caught me, I thoroughly considered doing so. But in the end my rational mind won, and so we ended up leaving together and going home. I didn't manage to stay mad at her for long. She was doing what was best for me.

Looking back on it now it all seems hilarious. Its actually one of my favourite memories from our time together so far. Just then Maddy walked in to my room, speak of the devil and she shall appear. I smirked at her and she lifted a questioning eyebrow but I just shook my head. If I told her what I'd just thought she'd probably smack me a couple of times … and that girl hits hard.

"Bella, I wanted to ask you something." She said, sitting down on the edge of my bed. I sat up straight and looked at her. She seemed a bit on edge … nervous. This couldn't be good.

"Sure you can. What's up?" She looked down and started picking at the comforter.

"Ok, well first I just want to say that this is going to be a touchy subject for you. So please just stick with me and hear me out."

"I will." I said nodding at her as if it would strengthen my resolve to listen to her reasoning. I really had no idea where she was going with this. The only touchy subject I could think of would be Edward, but I was always totally at ease when talking with her about him.

"Well, as you know we have to pick a new area to live in soon so we can start high school again." She looked me in the eye and I just nodded, asking silently for her to continue. "And I was thinking that … well there are a lot of issues from your human life that never got resolved and I think it would help you. I know you put on a brave front when you're around me but inside things from back then are still eating at you. I love you like a sister, Bella. You can't hide things from me as easily as you think."

I looked down at my lap feeling guilty. It was true, I always tried not to bother Maddy too much with my problems. For the most part it was because I wanted to forget about them and live my immortal life to the fullest. But on top of that I knew that bringing up my problems over and over again would eventually brake me, and I had no idea what I would do if that day ever came or even what to expect. She continued.

"So I was thinking that maybe to best place for us to go would be Forks." My head snapped up. Forks? Was she serious?

"Maddy, I really don't think that's a good idea. I mean the last time I was there I was a shell of a person, what if that happened to me again?"

"But Bella," She reasoned. "You're so much stronger now. I know that whatever happens we can handle it and you'll come out on the other side better and maybe even healed. You can't run away from your problems forever Bella. It's not as if its unhealthy for us … but dwelling on them will just bring you down time and time again, whereas if you actually get off your butt and do something about them, that could change." I was shaking my head from side to side. I couldn't go back to Forks! … Could I go back to Forks?

"But there are so many memories there, I would overwhelmed by it all, I mean god knows what I might end up doing. I really don't think this is a good idea." Maddy sighed and looked me straight in the eyes.

"Bella, I have never forced you to do anything in the time we've known each other and I'll be damned if I start now. I just want you to try. I think it will help, I know its hard for you to see that as a possibility but I really think it's worth a shot. I'm not going to push this any further until I have to, but please just think about it! Please? For me?" I nodded to her, I knew she was only trying to do what was best for me. So I owed it to her to at least think about it. She hugged me and left me to my own devices.

Going back to Forks, was something I had never even contemplated. I'd condemned the little green alien planet from the moment I left. There were so many memories. Charlie, Jake, Fishing, High School, The Cullen's, every moment with Edward, all the cuts, bumps, bruises and broken limbs, James trying to attack me, my disastrous eighteenth birthday, Edward leaving me and telling me he didn't love me, my 'murder'.

There was just so much. I felt overwhelmed just thinking about it, but being there in the place where it all happened … I couldn't even wrap my head around it.

But then again … maybe being back there, I would be able to feel closer to Charlie in some way. The last time I'd been there I hadn't paid attention to anything that went on around me. I hadn't allowed things to remind me of my past, I had blocked them all out to keep them from hurting me. But maybe if I went back, now that I'd finally been able to feel somewhat alive and human again … maybe, just maybe it would work for me and I could feel close to the vampires I had loved and lost and finally be able to truly accept what had happened to me.

With those thoughts in my mind, my decision was made.

"Maddy!" I yelled, even though it was totally unnecessary, she would have heard me if I'd simply whispered.

"What?" She asked bursting into my room looking worried and confused. I smiled up at her from where I was sitting.

"We're going to Forks."

**CarlislePOV.**

I had been sitting in my study, staring blankly at the wall for what seemed like hours. I had a lot on my mind. Over the past few days I've had several discussions with the members of my family , minus Edward, about the possibility of moving back to Forks.

We've been trying so hard to help him through this, but it just doesn't seem possible anymore. We left Forks a hundred and fifteen years ago and Edwards demeanour hasn't changed in the slightest.

After he and Rosalie had a rather large argument, he had promised her that he would try and change for us. But he hasn't been able to. It tears me apart that my family had finally all been entirely happy when Bella came around. Rosalie was an exception outwardly, but I know in my heart that she would have accepted Bella eventually, because she was exactly what Edward needed. We were all blissfully happy in the first time in a long time, and then it happened. Everything fell apart and none of us have been the same since.

We had been discussing moving on soon anyway, it was something that had to be done. However, we had been at a loss for where we should go next. It was Emmett who'd suggested Forks. At first we had all shunned the idea, but everyday it seemed more and more appealing.

The only problem was gaining Edwards co-operation, and it was for him in the first place that we'd be going back there. Being there might help him come to peace with himself, and gain some sort of closure. I was thoroughly aware of the fact that moving to Forks could be the downfall of us all but on the other hand it could be exactly what this family needs to fix itself.

I sighed heavily and stood from my desk and headed towards the door.

"Family meeting in the dining room. Five minutes, please." I said to no one in particular, they would all hear me nonetheless.

After we were all in and seated I grabbed a hold of Esme's hand. I was worried what kind of reaction this would evoke from Edward, and I needed all the support I could get. The other members of my family knew what this meeting would be about and either smiled or nodded to me, letting me know that they were behind me.

"The reason I have called us all in here is to discuss where our next location should be. There have been many suggestions but I believe Emmett hit the nail on the head." I said nodding my head towards him. It was odd that Emmett of all people had come up with the winning idea for once.

"Edward?" I asked. He looked up at me, his eyes were black and his skin looked so pale it could almost have been translucent. "The rest of us have talked this over on our own and all we need is your approval." He nodded to me to show he was listening, but he didn't look in the least bit interested in what I had to say. " We think it would be good for you, and for the rest of us, to go back to Forks." It was quiet for what seemed like a long time. And then he lost it. It was truthfully terrifying, it had been so long since I'd seen any form of reaction to anything from him and there he was standing hunched over and growling.

"No. NO! I am not going back there."

"Edward," Esme chimed in. "Please, listen to what Carlisle has to say before you make your final decision." She pleaded. His stance softened slightly as he looked at Esme.

"Fine." He snarled. "What do you have to say." He threw himself back down in his chair. The rest of the family were staring at him, all with shocked expressions. I really couldn't blame them.

"Honestly, Edward I don't see what we have to lose by going back to Forks. The last time we were there, well it was the easiest couple of years any of us had. Yes it was difficult when you first met Bella, but you overcame that and we were all happy for once. I want nothing more than to see this family happy again. I think that going there will help you gain the closure you need to become yourself again. Bella isn't going to haunt you there Edward."

He didn't really say anything, he just stared at me looking completely murderous.

"Edward," Alice spoke soothingly. "You can't keep running from what happened in the past, Carlisle's right. Maybe you'll finally be able to get closure and move on -" Edward growled at her. "Oh Edward! Stop it! You know I don't mean it like that, as I was saying before you so rudely interrupted me," I would never fully understand how my tiny daughter could stand up to these other gargantuan vampires so flippantly. "You can move on and come to terms with everything that happened back then. It _will _do you good Edward, I can see it. I can't see why though, but all I do know is that if we go back to Forks we're all going to end up happier than we've ever been before. When have my visions ever failed you, or any of us before Edward?" She asked him seriously, she was staring at him so hard she almost looked crazed. It was as if she was trying to force her visions in to his mind.

"That's exactly what she's doing." Edward snapped. There's another development, I can't remember the last time he read our minds. He huffed and started picking at the table.

"I need time to think about this."

"I completely understand that son, take all the time you need. But please, Edward, for your family at least consider it. We only have the best intentions in mind, we're not trying to hurt you." I tried to make my tone as calming as possible. He nodded his head and then he was gone.

"Well, that went well." Emmett boomed, chuckling to himself. Rosalie smacked him on the back of the head.

"What's so funny you big oaf?! He looked like he was about to tear every single one of us to shreds!" She snapped. Emmett rubbed the back of his head a bit before answering.

"Yeah, I get that, but come on! For the first time in what? Over a hundred years he showed some sign that he's actually alive in there. We finally got through to him about something. It small but it's process, right?" We all sat and thought that through for a moment.

The answer was, yes. We'd finally made some form of process with Edward and at least it was a start. We'd just have to wait and see if he would come to Forks with us willingly.

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An entire week has passed and not one of us has heard from Edward. It's worrying, but I know he can take care of himself.

Esme and I have been making preparations, just in case Edward does agree. Our old mansion is still standing and with Esme's care and devotion it's possible for us to live there again. Just then the front door opened and I heard Edward distinctly mutter "I'll go to Forks." and then he left again.

The entire family had converged at the door he had just left through and were all wearing gigantic grins. I couldn't hold mine back either. Maybe there was some hope for Edward after all.

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**A/N : I hope you guys enjoyed it! So the next chapter everybody will be back and settling into Forks, I think it might be another double POV chapter. Oh also I know what Bella's powers going to be! But I'm not going to tell you! Because I'm being mean! Ha! Anyways yeah, I love you guys for the reviews! Seriously you guys are amazing and I seriously did squeal when we hit over 100 reviews! **

**Anyways see you guys in the next authors note!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	10. Dead on Arrival

_**Disclaimer : Twilight still isn't mine. The wonderful Smeyer owns it, I just put her characters through hell … oops! **_

_Ok also a little note about this chapter. I understand that things will be different in the future, but because my story is about characters and not about the things around them, I'm not going to create a whole one hundred year on world, so things like cars and buildings and forms of communication will remain the same. So anyway now that's out the way I have a quick mention to throw at you folks. If you're over 18 go and check out __**wendybaliles **__fiction called "I Know" it's awesome, but it has adult themes so you have been duly warned my friends. Show her some love, she's an amazing writer and she an awesome buddy to have around!_

**BellaPOV**

Forks hasn't changed one bit since I was last here. Its still small and quiet and green. It's been some emotional rollercoaster moving back here, that's for sure. Maddy and I had arrived about a week ago, we figured that'd be best, giving us time to find living arrangements and get ourselves settled in before school starts.

First off I made a visit to Charlie's grave. I sat there just staring at the headstone for a long time, before I decided to speak to him. I didn't know if he could hear me but I hoped that in someway he would understand.

"Dad, I miss you so much. I can't believe its been over a hundred years, that just doesn't seem right to me. I always thought you were invincible," I laughed softly at my own stupidity. "but I guess that wasn't the case. Why'd you have to leave me dad? I needed you so much. I'm not angry with you … I know you couldn't help it. But I felt so lost and alone without you." I started to feel hollow and realised I really couldn't afford to go down that road right now, so I changed the subject.

"I guess I might as well tell you this, I'm a vampire. Yeah they exist … don't you scoff at me because I know that's exactly what you'll be doing if you can hear me! Edward and his entire family were vampires, but they didn't turn me. Also, ha ha! All those times you considered shooting Edward and it wouldn't have done a thing to the boy. Oh, and I guess I should tell you Jacob and a load of other guys down at La Push are werewolves … I'll never understand how Billy managed to hide that from you." I shook my head.

"Anyway, now I spend my immortal life repeating high school and college over and over again. The girl who turned me, Maddy, is wonderful. You would love her. She's like Alice, just not as hyper or supersonic."

"You'll be happy to know that Edward and I haven't found our way back to each other. And I doubt we ever will. I mean, I tried it once but Maddy made sure to stop me. I still love him though, Dad and I think I always will. And that scares me. I love him so much that it hurts, but he doesn't love me and he doesn't want me. He let me go. And I feel like I can't live life without him. I don't know what to do." I sighed. I didn't know why I was saying all of this to a headstone. It wasn't as if I was going to get any answers here.

"Well I need to get back to Maddy, we might be buying your old house. I hope it won't be hard for me to live there, I hope I'll be able to enjoy myself and remember all the good times. I love you Charlie, and I miss you more everyday." With that I had walked away, not sure if I would ever be able to go back.

It hadn't been as hard as I thought it would have been, but then again I'd managed to keep my emotions in check. What would become of me if I let everything I was feeling loose in that graveyard? I'm sure the outcome would not be good.

As luck would have it, Maddy and I did manage to get my old house. It needed a lot of work done on it though, but we were more than willing to do that. Besides with our vampire speed it wouldn't take us all that long.

However, before we got started I had one more places I definitely wanted to go. Seeing as I couldn't remember the way, Maddy had to come with me this time as I re-visited my demons. As we stood in the small clearing where death had almost found me, A flashback hit me.

"_W-why are y-y-you doing this t-to me?" I chocked through the sobs that were violently shaking my frame. He laughed that hollow laugh again before he answered me._

"_It's just a hobby of mine sugar, and you just so happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time." He snickered._

An involuntary shudder ripped through my body. I don't know why it seemed to foreboding to me now, years after the incident itself. At the time I don't think I fully grasped the seriousness of what was happening to me.

I looked over to Maddy and she was staring intently at the ground.

"What's wrong?" I asked quietly.

"I'm still fighting with myself." She said, she looked up and must have seen my confused expression as she elaborated. "When I turned you, it was like I had some internal battle waging war in my mind. I didn't know if I'd made the right choice. I mean, due to my selfishness, I don't regret the decision as it brought me the company I longed for. But I'll never fully know if it was the right thing for _you _Bella. Playing God isn't all it's knocked up to be." She finished shaking her head. I strode over to her purposefully.

"I get where you're coming from Maddy. It's hard to know if you made the right choice, especially when we aren't supposed to exist in the first place. But know this. I don't blame you for turning me. I don't hate you for it either. I'm glad you did. Before you changed me my life was meaningless, I didn't take in anything that went on around me. I was a hollow, bare version of the person I used to be. You helped me. As upside down and inside out as this sounds … you brought me back to life. And I will never resent you for that." I smiled at her, hoping that this time she would finally listen to me and stop beating herself up over her decision.

She smiled at me and nodded her head gently. We didn't talk much after that and eventually headed back into town. We had to buy some supplies for painting the house and fixing things that had become broken. I was actually looking forward to fixing up the house, it was something I'd never done before and it would be an interesting experience.

As we were driving back from the store with our purchases rolling around noisily in the boot, we passed a very expensive looking car which was headed in the direction of the cemetery.

"Bella, didn't you tell me that when you lived here everything was low brow and it was mostly all second hand cars and stuff?" Maddy asked from the drivers seat.

"Yeah …" I said wondering where she was going with this.

"Then what in the hell is someone doing driving a freakin' Bugatti Veyron? Which by the way costs one million, seven hundred thousand dollars!"

"I-I have no idea. Maybe just somebody's rich relative visiting?" I said my voice shaking. I didn't like this. Forks was low brow when I lived here. Low brow with the exception of the Cullen's. I shook of the feeling of foreboding as best I could.

We arrived back at the house, unloaded the car and got to work. We had everything fixed within an hour and then we got started on the painting. I loved painting, I found it oddly soothing. Even if me and Maddy did end up getting into a rather large paint fight while we trying to redo the living room.

Eventually I gave up because there was just no beating her and made my way up to my old room. I'd decided that I would have this room to myself again, I think it was something I needed. A lot of the ground work for my relationship with Edward had been built in this room and I had to feel close to that.

I painted the walls a sky blue colour. I'd always liked the way this room had been decorated, so instead of redoing it completely I was simply touching it up.

Once everything was painted we moved our belongings in from the moving van. I was thankful for the fact that we never grew tired or felt physically weak. It had made this whole ordeal so much more bearable. Maddy and I flumped down in the sofa together in front of the T.V and admired our work of the day.

For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was home.

**AlicePOV**

It was so good to be back in Forks. I'd missed this place, it was so pretty and green. And it reminded me of happiness, even if the weather was constantly dreary and dull.

Esme had done a spectacular job in fixing up the mansion, it looked as good as new. Of course, I'd had a field day buying all our new bits and pieces. We very rarely moved possessions with us, with the exception of Edward's piano, Esme's art pieces and Carlisle's mahogany desk.

Finally everything was all moved in and we were settled. Poor Edward had been on edge the entire time we were moving things into the house. Emmett and Jasper were out on a fact finding mission to the graveyard to see if Bella was buried there. If she was we were all going to go and pay our respects to her. It was the least we could do after leaving her behind all those years ago.

After a while Esme and I had ordered Edward out of the house. He was just getting in the way to be honest, and everyone was getting on Rosalie's last nerve as it was. I figured having him gone would alleviate some of the tension. None of us had Jaspers power, but the amount of tension Edward was exuding made the atmosphere palpable.

So he had been sent out to find out which shops Forks holds these days … of course I already knew what shops there were but it was the only thing I could think of.

Em and Jazz had returned home not long after we got rid of Edward, relaying the news that there were No Isabella/Bella Swans in the graveyard nor were there any Isabella/Bella's with a different last name, leaving the possibilities that she had moved on or had been cremated.

I was just heading back towards the front door when a flash of bronze hair came at me, knocked me to floor and pinned me there. I could hear choruses of the rest of my family shouting at Edward to get off of me just barely over Edwards snarls, growls and broken sobs.

"Where is she!" He yelled pulling me up by my shoulders and slamming me against the floor. Why hadn't I seen this attack coming?

"Where's who Edward? I don't know what you're talking about." I replied calmly. He snarled again and bore his razor sharp teeth at me. "Emmett? A little help please?" Emmett's gigantic arms wrapped around the top of Edwards shoulders and pulled him off of me. I sprang up and flattened out my clothes. Edward was struggling, futilely, against Emmett's grasp, he hadn't taken his eyes off of me.

"Ok, you need to calm the hell down." I said, I glanced around at the rest of my family who were all wearing identical expressions of shock. "Who exactly am I supposed to know the whereabouts of?" I asked.

"Bella." He growled at me. I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the floor. I hadn't been expecting that name to fall from his mouth.

"Dining room. Right now!" Carlisle said sounding worried. We all congregated in our new dining room, we all say with the exceptions of Edward and Emmett, the latter was refusing to relinquish his grip until the former calmed down.

"Edward, what do you mean?" Carlisle asked him, his voice cracking with concern. I could understand why. Bella would be long dead by now and Edwards reaction was shocking to say the least. What if he was having hallucinations? Maybe he thought he had seen her in one of their most frequented places. I didn't quite know and I was anxious to find out. Hallucinations would not be a good sign for a vampire.

"I could smell her! Her scent was all over some DIY store in town." He spat through clenched teeth. We all looked at each other, eyes wide mouths open. I'm pretty sure our thoughts were the same. _He's lost it._

"I have _not _lost it!" Edward yelled, still struggling against Emmett's iron grasp. "I would know that scent anywhere! I know it was her, you have to believe me! It was so strong, like it had become amplified." We were all silent for a long moment, no one knew what to say. It was Esme that finally broke the silence.

"Edward, sweetheart it might have been a descendant of hers." She suggested.

"But I can hear it in your thoughts! You checked the graveyard, there are no Swan's there other than Charlie and his older family members! And no Bella's or Isabella's with different last names! How do you explain that?" He asked, clearly exasperated at our lack of faith in what he believed to be true.

"Edward, I'm not saying this to hurt you but there's every chance she was cremated." Carlisle spoke, trying to reassure Edward that things were going to be ok, and trying to reassure us that Edward would be ok. "And if not she could have moved away and at some point her descendants may have chosen to move back here."

Edward withered visibly. He stopped fighting against Emmett and instead slumped against him needing support. I sighed inwardly suddenly realising why he had been putting up such a vicious fight. If it had been true, which he'd obviously convinced himself there was a possibility of, then he could have made things right with her. He could have finally let her know that what he'd said to her was a lie to make it easier for her to let go of him. But now that opportunity had been taken away from him by rational thinking.

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**A/N : Yay, Forks is full of vampires again! What's going to happen when they all finally meet up at Forks high? Well … all shall be revealed in the next chapter ! Sorry for dragging this on for so long without having them all back together but I needed to establish background for everyone, they kept shouting at me in my head telling me to tell you their stories =P** . **Anyhoozle, just letting you know, Jake and Victoria will be returning to this fan fiction at some point down the line. Also I'm possibly going to throw in a mate for Maddy along the way so at some point I'll be holding another name contest type thing! So keep an eye out for that! Thanks so much for the reviews and support it seriously means so much to me that you enjoy my story as much as you do! **

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	11. You Found Me

_**Disclaimer : Twilight belongs to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. Not me!**_

_First day at Forks High =] Need I say anymore?_

**BellaPOV.**

Maddy and I hunted during the night to ensure we were satiated enough to attend school the next day. We can never be too careful when moving to a new area, as I learned from my experience with Edward, you can never tell who's blood will call your name.

We arrived home before dawn and I lay on my bed, waiting for Maddy to be done with the shower. In the rush of nostalgia of buying this house I had forgotten that there was only one bathroom. It didn't matter so much seeing as we don't need to use it for bodily functions but we do both shower … frequently. It isn't necessary but its part of my human routine that I didn't want to give up.

As I lay there, I kept glancing towards my window. I kept expecting Edward to jump through it. I missed those days a lot. All though thinking back on it now it was slightly creepy, especially in the beginning when he watched me sleep when I was unaware of his presence.

My mind wondered to all the stolen kisses and sleepovers that Charlie had never been aware of. He would have exploded if he'd ever found out. In the months after they left, I never told Charlie about it. For a start I was worried for his health as it was and on top of that I was hoping he might come back. And telling Charlie would have set me up for trouble if Edward had ever chosen to return.

I could just see it now, Charlie sitting by my window every night as I tried to sleep with the shotgun in his lap. Just waiting for Edward to make the mistake of showing up. I laughed to myself at the thought. It probably would have been something Charlie would do. He was prone to over reaction when it came to me. Although I can't say I blame him I was his only daughter.

I wished Maddy would hurry up with her shower, she was taking much longer than was necessary and I was covered in blood. I'd been acting a little too full of myself while hunting and ended up spilling a rather large amount of elk blood on my shirt.

_Maddy hurry the hell up, if I don't get this blood off of me soon its going to become a permanent fixture to my skin! _

I thought to myself, then I heard a gasp from the bathroom and Maddy was at my door in a flash, wearing nothing but a towel and an extremely shocked expression.

"How did you _do _that?" She asked, awed.

"Do what?" I replied feeling totally bemused.

"You spoke … in my head!" She said staring at me. I was totally confused, I had just mentally shouted at her to hurry the hell up and get out of the shower but that didn't explain why she would have heard me. And also why wouldn't she have ever heard me before?

"I…I did shout at you in my head. But that was all." I said feeling completely startled and shaken.

"Do you think that's maybe your power?"

"I don't know, I've never thought about it before. It's rare for vampires to have powers so I just thought I was … normal … if you can call it that."

"Try it again!!!" She squealed.

"Ok, ok. Calm down midget." I chuckled as she shot me a reproachful glare.

_Don't glare at me like that you loon!_

She gasped again.

"I heard it." Holy hell, this is weird.

"Ok so either you can selectively read minds, or I can … what? Mentally chastise people and put it in there heads?" I asked feeling totally bemused. Maddy just shook her head at me.

"We can't talk about this right now, we have to get ready for school. We'll figure it out later. Remember we changed your name back to 'Swan', so none of this "I'm Bella Pierce." stuff." She giggled, wiggling her little finger at me.

"I know, I know." I huffed and lifted myself gracefully off of the bed and headed for the bathroom. That was something else that felt weird. Being graceful in this house was a new experience for me entirely.

I pushed the thoughts of my apparent power to the back of my mind and hopped in the shower. It took me a solid five minutes to get the blood off of my stomach and chest.

After I was washed and dried, I pulled on some simple jeans, a black tank top and a zip up hoody before stuffing my feet into my converses. I knew converses probably weren't the best kind of shoes to wear in rainy little Forks, but it was dry out side today and besides it wasn't like I was going to get ill from having wet feet.

The drive to Forks High School as quiet and uneventful, we were early on purpose so that we could grab our time tables from the office and slink off hopefully unnoticed by the students.

Of course that didn't work. By the time Ms. Goforth was through with chatting our ears off it was five minutes to the bell and pretty much the entire student body had arrived. As we walked out of the office doors it was like watching a chain reaction. First one person looked at us, then another one did, then another until everyone had stopped what they were doing and just … stared.

"Well, that's rude." Maddy said, giggling beside me.

"I probably should have warned you about this. The last time I came to school here, I was just another normal human being like the rest of them and even then they stared like there was no damn tomorrow." I said slightly put off by the amount of attention we were getting.

Whenever we went somewhere new we always got attention, because to human we're beautiful and alluring. But the reaction in Forks was like nothing I'd ever seen before. It was as if they could feel that the difference between us and them was something more than us just being new students.

We quickly memorized our time tables and stuffed them in our back packs heading to our first class of the day, English. It was also the only class we had together for the entire day until Gym last period. I still hate gym. I may be a supernatural being who's incredibly fast and strong, but I can't play on that in front of class mates and teachers. It just wouldn't look right.

English was highly uneventful, except for the staring. The teacher didn't have us introduce ourselves and for that I was thankful. At the end of that class Maddy and I split ways, she had Spanish and I had French. I was about to follow her out of the door, when a boy stood in my way.

I guess you could say he was good looking, more cute than anything special. He was quite tall with short, but curly. Brown hair and light blue eyes.

"Hi." he said smiling down at me. "I'm Stewart Newton, you must be Isabella Sawn?" Whoa talk about déjà vu. I was staring at Mike and Jessica's genes passed down through generations.

"Just Bella." I gave him a weak smile.

"Can I walk you to your next class, Just Bella?" He asked with a wink. Wow… smooth.

"Sure." I said trying to keep in the vicious bought of laughter that was trying to escape me. On the walk between English and French he told me that he preferred to be called Stew and that all the ladies at Forks High loved him. I just smiled and nodded the entire time, scared that if I opened my mouth I would laugh at him.

It was odd but slightly refreshing having some people to talk to for once. It must be something in the air in Forks that makes people slightly less fearful of vampires. Spanish passed without any great event to speak of. Although Maddy did catch me in the hall and relayed some unsettling news.

"Bella, I just ran straight into some tiny little girl with black hair." She whispered frantically.

"Calm down, did you hurt her?" I whispered back.

"No! Doesn't that worry you?"

"Um … no? It would have worried me if you hurt her but you didn't she's fine, no harm no foul." I said shrugging my shoulders.

"No, Bella you don't understand. I ran straight into her, but she withstood me! I should have sent her flying and broken her fragile little human bones but I didn't! I practically bounced off of her. She's not human! She's one of us! Which could cause a whole lot of problems." She whispered hysterically.

"Ok, ok. Calm down. It'll be fine, if she's here at school then she has to be like us. I doubt she'll be a threat. Just calm down and go to class, we'll take everything as it comes." She nodded and headed off towards her next class.

I was left slightly shaken by our exchange. Small with black hair. Alice. I pushed that thought to the back of my mind, there was no way. It just simply wasn't possible.

Trigonometry got off to a bad start. The teacher made me stand up and introduce myself. I wondered idly if she was some sort of descendant of Mr. Varner's. I took the only empty seat in the room, beside a girl who looked very tall even though she was seated.

"I'm Kayla Cheney." She introduced herself shyly. Wow. Another descendant. This time of Angela and Ben's. She had short light brown hair and hazel eyes, she was very pretty and just looking into her face made me miss Angela.

"Bella Swan." I said smiling at her encouragingly. But inside the hollow feeling was starting to sneak up on me again. A hundred years ago, I was sitting in these same classrooms with people like Mike, Jessica, Angela, Ben, Eric, Tyler and Lauren and now they were all six feet under and never coming back, with only there great, great, great grandchildren as any proof that they had ever been here in the first place. I missed all of them in some way or another. Except for Lauren. I'd always hated that girl.

By the time the lunch bell rang I was in desperate need of Maddys company. I met her in the hallway outside the cafeteria and we went in together. I told her about my dilemma and she comforted me with her words. Apparently it would get easier, I hoped like hell she was right.

As I was standing in the queue talking to Maddy I could feel several pairs of eyes on me. Which was to be expected, being the new kids, but this set of stares felt intense and was making my stomach roll uncomfortably. I decided to chance it and spun around locking eyes with a tall statuesque blonde. Her golden eyes bore into mine like she was trying to see my soul.

"Rosalie." I breathed out in just a whisper, but I knew she would have heard me. I looked to her right and sure enough Jasper, Emmett and Alice all met my stare with stunned expressions gracing their beyond beautiful faces. But … no Edward. I couldn't even start to grasp at what that might mean. Where …

"Bella, what the hell's going on?" Maddy interrupted me, demanding my attention.

"Cullen's." Was all I could choke out and she followed my gaze and gasped.

Just then the doors to the cafeteria burst open and Adonis himself walked in. Tall and lean, wild bronze hair and worried honeycomb coloured eyes. My gaze locked with his and comprehension dawned on his glorious face. Edward. Edward. Edward. He's so much more beautiful than I remembered him. My human mind and eyesight hadn't done him justice. Not in the slightest.

We'd been staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. When he began to gracefully move in my direction. As he reached me all I could smell was him and it was intoxicating. He leaned down slightly and pulled me up into his strong arms and kissed me with so much passion and need that I almost didn't hear the claps, cheers and wolf whistles of our fellow students, who I hadn't realized had been silent up until that moment.

That was when rational thought hit me. I loved Edward and I needed him like I'd never needed anything ever before. But this was too fast. I needed time to adjust and this wasn't the right way to do it. I broke the kiss and he placed me back on my feet. He was grinning like a mad man, but I couldn't even find it in me to smile back. I wanted to cry.

"Edward, please I need time. I'm so sorry." Was all I got out before I fled from the cafeteria. Tearless sobs ripping through my body.

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**A/N : Sorry for the slight cliffy. The next chapter will be Edwards POV of the first day back at Forks High. I'm taking a small break and then starting it, so it should be out later tonight or tomorrow =] . Thanks for the reviews everyone I really appreciate them!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	12. It's Not Over

_**Disclaimer : Twilight isn't mine.**_

_So here's the second part to the first day at Forks High, in Edwards POV. I know a lot of you are reeling that Bella did a runner but all will be explained. I have my reasons. Trust me. Okay, so a lot of stuff got in the way of me posting this chapter like killer headaches, fan fiction .net major fails and friends monopolizing my time haha but it's here finally! I hope you enjoy it!_

**EdwardPOV.**

The events of the day before had drained me emotionally. The hope that she might still be here was unbelievable and I wanted it to be true so much. I had lost all sense of right and rational in that moment when I thought I smelled her scent.

Of course my family made me see right. I wished they could have let me have my moment, but that would probably have been detrimental to my sanity. Besides I'd already attacked Alice, there's no telling what I would have gone on to do.

I needed time away from them, so I went hunting. I didn't do it often nowadays but it was vital seeing as I'd be in a building full of humans tomorrow. I finished quickly and chose to lay in a clearing just staring up at the night sky before I had to go home and ready myself for school.

I thought about Bella and I. What we could have become if I hadn't left her all those years ago. I longed to have her in my arms, just one more time. I always had and always will love her with every part of my being. She was my muse, my everything. But if I had stayed, eventually she would have been hurt … fatally.

I was able to live now, knowing that Bella had lived a long and happy life dying probably naturally of old age. However, if her death had been my own fault, I wouldn't be here today.

The sky began to lighten so I picked myself up off of the ground and ran for home. I made it there in record time, showered dressed and was ready to go before the rest of them had even considered sorting themselves out.

Emmett and Jasper were having an argument about some game they'd been playing which of course resulted in a wrestling match on the living room floor and Alice was throwing a hissy fit over not knowing what to wear. I tried to block them out to no avail, ever since the flood gates had opened the other day I hadn't been able to block their mental or oral voices from getting into my head. It was infuriating. I'd become accustomed to the silence

Even with our vampire speed we ended being late for school. We pulled into the parking lot just as the bell rang and had to rush to the office to introduce ourselves, get our schedules and head to our first classes.

I could smell that scent again. It was all over the place and I wanted to follow it, to see who it would lead me to, but I knew I shouldn't and pushed that thought to the back of my mind. I had Gym first period which was highly uneventful. As it was the first day of term we were just briefed on what the course would entail and handed out uniforms.

I'd been going through high school now for almost two hundred years, I wondered how I hadn't lost my mind yet. It was like being stuck in purgatory for an eternity, even though the world was moving forward the courses never changed much, only little bits of information were added or removed depending on new theories being tested and proved etc.

Alice nearly had a break down between second and third period over nearly being knocked over by some girl, but I wasn't really listening. That scent had infiltrated my senses yet again. Whoever it was had been down this hallway recently, I scanned every face I could. Looking for features that may indicate Bella genes. But I came up blank. Not one person had her creamy skin, lustrous mahogany hair or her gorgeous chocolate brown eyes.

I felt agitated and pent up by the time I made it to fourth period Music, all I wanted to do was get to lunch so I could ask my family if they'd met the girl or boy that shared Bella's scent.

This was going to be this first time in years I had participated in a music class, therefore it would also be the first time in years that I'd be playing the piano. I decided to detach myself and just play, try to not think about Bella in hopes that the hurt that simmered under my surface wouldn't boil over and leave me some bumbling wreck in the middle of class.

I played my piece and the teacher looked stunned. I was surprised that I hadn't been rusty and made mistakes.

_The boy's a genius!_

The teachers thoughts flattered me. No one had commented on my piano playing talents in a long time seeing as I simply didn't play anymore and I felt rather mollified.

"Edward, could you stay behind after class please? I'd like to speak with you." Mr. Allen asked.

"Yes, of course sir." I was feeling a bit peeved though. This talk he wanted to have with me would interrupt the time I needed to talk with my family, but I couldn't be disrespectful to a teacher and especially not on my first day.

As expected all he really wanted to discuss with me was my obvious musical prowess and talent. I tried to hurry the conversation along as much as I could and eventually I was set free.

I made my way to cafeteria and glanced at my watch, I'd lost seven minutes of valuable discussion time with my family. As I got closer I couldn't help but notice how quiet it was, I tapped into the thoughts and everyone was thinking along the same lines.

_Why are the beautiful people staring at each other like that?_

All I could think about was my family, what could have happened for them to be … staring at each other in the middle of the schools cafeteria? I couldn't fathom an answer and instead opted for bursting through the doors as fast as I could.

My eyes immediately went to my family members, none of which were looking at one another. They were, however, looking in the same direction wearing identical masks of shock and awe.

I followed their line of sight and locked eyes with the most beautiful creature on the planet.

"Bella." I breathed.

She was truly stunning. Her complexion was pale and her long brown hair fell almost to her waist. However, her eyes were not the delicious brown I remembered … they were golden, just like mine.

I gazed at her for what felt like an eternal moment, I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Nothing registered with my brain except from the fact that she was here and she was just as beautiful and glorious and young has she had been a hundred years ago.

I couldn't stand the distance between us anymore, I needed her in my arms as proof that she was really there and not some mirage. I glided towards her silently and pulled her up into my arms, barely noticing how her body withstood my grasp, she was hard not soft.

I kissed her then. As passionately as I could muster, her lips moved willingly against mine and I could hear claps and cheers coming from the rest of the student body, but I didn't care about them. I didn't care about anybody in this whole damn world, except for Bella. She was here and she was real. I could feel her entire body pushed up against mine and all I could think was that this closeness was not close enough. All to soon she pulled away from me.

I set her on her feet and grinned down at her. I must have looked ridiculous but that didn't matter to me.

"Edward," Her voice made my dead heart feel like it was swelling. "please I need time. I'm so sorry." She said and turned and ran away from me. All the emotions raging through me at that moment were overwhelming. My mind felt jumbled and all my thoughts were fleeting.

Finally, as I watched her retreating form it all suddenly clicked. Bella was here, Bella was perfect and flawless. Bella hadn't aged in the last one hundred years. Bella was one of us. A vampire. My mind went blank and I felt numb.

Then the anger came, and I resolved to tear apart the person that had inflicted this hell on her.

**A/N : So there we go, Edwards first day at school. I'm sorry it took me so long to get this out, seriously! And as a little prize for waiting for me I'll divulge what the next few chapters will be about.**

**Chapter 13 : Bella and Maddy have a talk and then Bella has Biology with Edward. (That should be quite a short chapter.)**

**Chapter 14 : Bella and Edward meet in the meadow and talk.**

**Chapter 15 : Bella and Maddy go to the Cullen Mansion.**

**Chapter 16 : The Cullen's, Bella & Maddy take a trip to Alaska. The reason for which will become apparent in chapter 15. =) please review guys, I'll love you forever!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael. **

_P.S if you love me, please go check my buddies, WendayBaliles, story 'I Know'. It's fantastic but it does have an 'M' rating for a reason ;] haha so keep that in mind!_


	13. Overdrive

_**Disclaimer : Nope, Twilight's not mine. *sad face*.**_

_This one goes out to ravenlovestwilight, she told me to write at vampire speed … so I did!_

**MaddyPOV.**

_Crap! _I thought to myself as I watched Bella run at a fast human pace from the cafeteria. All the students had gone silent and the Cullen's were all eyeing me, looking me up and down.

"Uh … I better go make sure she's alright." I mumbled. Edward looked like he was going to object but he let it go. I followed Bella's scent through the hallway and out into the parking lot. I saw her disappear into the trees a few metres away and headed in after her.

She hadn't gone far, a few steps in I spotted her sitting at the base of a large fir tree with her head in her hands, rocking backwards and forwards. I sat down beside her and put my arm around her shoulder, trying to comfort her. Dry sobs rocked her body harder and it took her a good ten minutes to calm down enough to talk.

"Thanks for coming after me." She said quietly, I gently squeezed her shoulders.

"Can I ask you a question?" I asked tentatively. She nodded her head. "Why did you run, Bella? You've been waiting over a hundred years for this moment, to see him again and be in his arms. I just don't understand." I truly didn't, the whole ordeal left me feeling perplexed and slightly awkward. I thought this was exactly what she wanted. She heaved a sigh beside me before she began explaining.

"I don't know Maddy. I'd resigned myself to thinking I would never see him again. I had resolved myself to not go looking for him and he had no reason to ever look for me. And then … there he was. Right there in front of me. It was such a shock and my feeling just overwhelmed me completely. I just felt like crying, I needed space. I had to get out of there. For so long I've hoped and dreamed that this would happen. But that's just it. I hoped and I dreamed but I never once thought it would become a reality. It's more than that though. When he left, it was because he didn't love me anymore. His words were harsh and his expression was so cold and almost hateful, I had no right to ever doubt the fact that what he was saying was true. And then he just walks up to me and kisses me like that? With so much passion and need and … love. What am I supposed to think? My mind just went into overdrive and all I could do was run. It was my only option. If I'd stayed I don't know what would have happened. I want him Maddy, I really do. But I need to adjust to this." She sighed again and looked down at her lap.

I felt for her. I could understand how hard it must have been to cope with all of those emotions in such a short space of time. I hugged her to me before speaking again.

"Do you feel like going back in? Or do you want to just go home?" She shook her head.

"No. I should go back. Running from your problems won't solve them … I guess it's time to run back and face them." She said giggling lightly. I smiled, stood and offered her my hand. It wasn't like she needed the physical help, it was just the gesture that mattered.

We were almost back to the building when the bell rang. I gave her another hug and she headed off towards Biology and I headed to Chemistry.

I knew one thing for sure. I would not want to be Bella today.

**BellaPOV.**

Maddy hugged me tightly as we parted ways for class. I felt a little better now that I'd gotten a few things off of my chest. I was glad it was Maddy who had followed me and not Edward. That could have been disastrous at the time.

I walked through the door to my biology class and realised I was the last one in … oops. I walked over to the teacher, Mr. Barnes and introduced myself.

"Nice of you to join us Isabella." He said quirking an eyebrow at me as he handed me a battered looking textbook. "Please take a seat." He said pointing to my left. I spun around and my gaze zeroed in on the only available seat left in the class.

Beside Edward Cullen. Could this day be anymore clichéd or riddled with déjà vu? Probably not, it had already out done itself. A few people "Oohed" as I made my way to my seat, I chose to ignore them. I placed my books on the table top and sat down in my seat.

Almost immediately I could feel Edwards gaze burning into me. The air around us was rife with electricity. I chanced a look at him and our eyes locked. It would have been impossible for me to look away even if I'd wanted to.

I couldn't help but feel myself deflate slightly at the look on his face. He looked almost defeated … and _sad._ I couldn't understand why. I mean I know having a girl run away from you after you kiss them isn't usually a good sign, but Edward knows me. I'm quirky and weird like that. He must have felt the passion I returned in our kiss enough to know that this wasn't the end for us. We were a long way from being over.

Biology passed at an agonizingly slow pace, it felt like time was trying to torture me. Finally the bell rang and I stood to leave. I made it to the door before I felt a strong hand on my shoulder halting my movements. I turned around and gazed up at Edward. It was a moment before he said anything.

"Bella," I almost shivered. It felt so good to hear my name fall from his lips again in that perfect velvet voice. He stayed quiet for almost a minute before finishing. "you ran." I sighed and looked down at my feet.

"Yes, Edward I did. I can't talk about this right now though, I have to get to Gym." I winced at the thought. "I'll talk to you soon … I promise. I just need time to think and get my thoughts sorted." He nodded to me sullenly, turned and walked away. I watched his retreating form for a bit and then headed towards the gymnasium. I passed Rosalie on the way there, she just glared daggers at me. This time I did shudder. Rosalie could be a very intimidating person. She looked positively livid and I had to stifle another shiver as I flat out ran for the Gym.

It was the first time I'd ever been eager to get there. Maddy was waiting for me in the locker room and I filled her in on the events in Biology and Rose's actions outside. Maddy scoffed when I told her I was actually terrified of Rosalie.

"Well she doesn't scare me." She said defiantly. "She can glare all she likes but she's not going to get even one shiver from me in response." She threw her nose up in the air and stalked out of the locker room and into the gym. I giggled and followed. Maddy sure could take care of herself, not much phased her. I wondered what a stand off between her and Rosalie would look like.

As I took my seat on the bleachers I had to bite my fist to stop the laughter erupting from my chest. The thought of Maddy and Rosalie just standing, trying to stare each other down was hilarious to me. I'm pretty sure it was due to the similarities. Maddy, like Rosalie, had long blonde hair and topaz eyes with a beautiful face … the only difference was that Maddy was a good eight inches shorter than Rosalie.

Eventually my good mood was extinguished as the coach droned on about the rotations we would be participating in this year and passed out our uniforms. I finally made it back to the locker room, shoved my uniform into my bag and headed for the door.

"I'll be right out, Bella." Maddy called from behind me. I turned round and saw her talking to some girl. She must have made friends with someone at some point during the day. I was glad that even though we enjoyed each others company so much, we had other people to talk to here. It would do us both good.

I exited the building and began to head towards the car when my arm got caught in an iron grasp and I found myself pushed up against the building wall by none other that Rosalie. I knew she didn't like me but this just seemed over the top.

"Rosalie, wha…"

"Shut the hell up, Bella." She snapped. "How dare you do that to him? He's been worse than death for the last hundred years, and then you treat him like that!? What the hell is your problem?" I could feel the anger boiling up inside of me, she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Do you have any idea what _I _have been through since you all upped and left?" I snarled. "The answer to that is no, Rosalie. You have no idea the amount of pain I've been put through. I never thought I would see him again and then he just magically appears back into my life? I need time to adjust Rose and that's as much of an explanation as you deserve." I hissed and tore my arm from her grasp, just as Maddy exited the building. I stormed towards her.

"Get me the hell out of here." I seethed.

She didn't need to be told twice.

**A/N : Uh oh! It looks like Rosalie and Bella are off to an even worse start this time around. We'll just have to wait and see what happens! I thought you guys deserved two updates today seeing as you've all been so nice with all the reviews and hanging around waiting for my lazy ass to post new chapters! On that note thank you to every single person that reviews, you are all wonderful people and are the motivation behind my continued writing of this story.**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	14. There's No Sympathy for the Dead

_Disclaimer : Twilight isn't mine. _

_**Hey sorry I took so long with this chapter, but I've been super busy. It's here now though so enjoy! Also a quick wee side note : I'm moving in to my sisters place so I can be closer to college, however her 2 year old son broke her internet … oops! So I won't be able to post anymore. Yeah right! I couldn't do that to you guys! So instead I'll be writing chapters on my sisters laptop and handing off my trusty USB drive to my friend SuziSpook who will continue to upload the chapters for me until I can get a hold of some of my own internet. So … yeah you guys better love me for coming up with alternate solutions! Haha! Love you guys! Enjoy and review.**_

**It had been so long since I'd been here. But it was just as beautiful and peaceful as it had ever been. Edwards meadow would always be one of my favourite places. Not just because of its beauty, but because it was here that Edward and I took the first real steps in our relationship. **

**Without this small clearing it's entirely possible that my relationship with Edward may never have really become a relationship. Without this place, we could have easily fallen off of the blade we had been balancing so precariously upon. I wondered idly what my life would have been like if that had happened. **

**As far as I could see there would have been three possibilities. Possibility number one ; Edward wouldn't have learned to control himself around me and I would have died. I tried not to dwell on the fact that even after we had found some form of peace together, Edward could still have slipped up. **

**Possibility number two ; I would have realised that Edward was, in fact, very dangerous for me and I would have moved on. Even to this day I highly doubt that possibility could have become more than just that…a vague possibility. Edward had always been my everything and I'd deluded myself in to thinking he would never hurt me and so I stayed because I truly didn't see any danger. In the end he had hurt me, but he managed it without using his extraordinary strength or his razor sharp teeth. His words were what left me bleeding. **

**And finally possibility number three ; Nothing. Meaning simply that we would have given up before it even got anywhere.**

**I didn't know whether any of those scenarios would have been better than the reality I'd found myself become part of. I was happy for the love I had shared with Edward for that short amount of time. But the 5 years worth of suffering afterwards … was that worth it?**

**Since becoming immortal it has been easier to focus on the positives. Only because I actually had something positive. Maddy. My best friend and a fresh start. However, over my years as a vampire I have never been able to keep my mind from Edward for any extended period of time. It's hard to imagine a life without him. In essence, I have spent my life without him, but that doesn't change that fact that he once was mine. The most beautiful man I had ever seen, the man who had such a beautiful and talented mind had been mine. But did that make it worth it. Was it better to have loved and lost … than to never have loved at all? I couldn't decide. The arguments for both sides in my head were compelling. I gave up trying to chose a side, I came here for some space and time away from my thoughts … which hadn't been going so well so far.**

**I stopped thinking for a few minutes, the information floating around my head was actually making it hurt. I just wanted to look around me and appreciate the beauty of this place. There were ferns around the very outskirts, sitting at the bottom of every tree that surrounded me. Beautiful wild flowers were scattered sporadically all over the meadow, in colours like violet, yellow and soft white. The grass felt springy underneath my feet and the sound of a stream bubbling softly to the north just added to the serenity that engulfed me in that moment. **

**It was as if every one of my senses had been taken over by this perfectly round circle of space. The smells were intoxicating. I wanted to stay here forever. That actually wasn't a bad idea. I could hide away here with my fantasies and not have to face anymore hardships.**

**I was about to lay down on the grass when I heard movement from behind me. I froze in place, silently praying that whoever it was, was someone I could put up with right now. Basically as long as it wasn't Rosalie … I could deal. **

**I turned slowly and my eyes fell upon an untidy mop of bronze hair. I sighed as my gaze locked with his. Edward. I should have known. He stayed exactly where he had been when I caught him, as did I. I wanted to drink him in. Even though I had seen him earlier today, I hadn't had a good chance to ogle him yet. I'd been trying to avoid it whilst at school, in a public place where others would intrude on our moment only too willingly. But here, it was just us. So I indulged myself and looked him up and down. Taking in every single detail about him.**

**For some reason he seemed to be taller than the last time I had seen him in my human life. I couldn't quite understand why but I chose not to dwell on that for too long. His perfectly angular face grabbed my attention next. He was so utterly perfect it was hard to believe. I knew it was just a disguise. Vampires were designed to lure their intended pray to them, seduce them even. But it didn't matter to me. Because it was Edward and I had no doubt in my mind that even if he wasn't a vampire … he would still look perfect to me. He was lean but muscular. He seemed to be at that perfect stage where he neither had to many nor not enough. And then there was his perfectly messed up bronze hair. I sighed inwardly. I had never been worthy of him. Even now, I didn't hold a candle to Edward.**

**I had no idea how long we'd stood looking at each other for, but I decided to finally take my seat on the meadows floor. I looked at him and cocked my head to the side slightly.**

_**Come to me, Edward. **_**I thought and he was beside me in a instant. **

"**Bella," He said sounding startled. "how did you do that?"**

"**Apparently it's my power." I shrugged and lay flat on my back. Edward gracefully lay down beside me and gazed at me intently. It was so strange being in such a close proximity to him again after so much time apart. After what could have been hours, Edward finally spoke again.**

"**Bella, how did this happen to you?" He sounded … hurt and angry. It was an odd mix. I was surprised that he didn't question my power, but then again the fact that I was now able to harbour a power was slightly more pressing. I sighed again. I knew I would have to explain this to him at some point but did it really have to be now? I looked into his eyes again and knew instantly that yes it did have to be now. Edward deserved answers.**

"**After you left, I became a shell of a person. I didn't talk to anyone, except Charlie and even then it was the bare minimum. About five months after your … departure, Charlie died of a heart attack in his sleep. That dragged me even further under the surface of the person I had once been. I felt like I didn't have a purpose anymore so I merely spent my days going through the motions, hoping in vain that one day something would change and a purpose would find me and help me to move on. About five years later I realised that if I wanted to change what had happened, then I had to be active. I couldn't just sit around and wait for something to find me. I had to go out there and really look for something. So that night I went out for a walk to clear my head I guess. I ended up becoming the victim of a stabbing," He snarled but I chose to ignore him and continued. " He left me for dead. Maddy just so happened to be hunting in the area, smelled my blood and found me. She was lonely and that coupled with other things led her to change me … and that's the story." I finished rather lamely, accompanying it with another shrug.**

**Edward brought his hand up to my face and stroked it from temple to jaw. I revelled in the feeling of his smooth marble skin against mine, I closed my eyes sighing in contentment. **

"**I'm sorry that had to happen to you, Bella." his voice sounded like pure velvet. "Although, I have something I need to admit." My eyes snapped open and I scrutinised his expression. I merely nodded my head to give my consent.**

"**Earlier in the cafeteria, after the realization that you had become a vampire finally hit me I vowed to kill the vampire that did this to you …" I cut him off with an involuntary hiss. The thought of him killing Maddy was just … I couldn't even find a word to describe it. I narrowed my eyes at him as a growl began to build in my chest. "Let me finish!" He said chuckling lightly. I didn't know whether to feel relieved because he was laughing or not. " But now that I know the story, I'm glad Maddy changed you. Because she was the one who saved you, she wasn't the one who was trying to take your life away from you before it was your time. Besides if she hadn't changed you, you wouldn't be here right now. And I can't even comprehend that fact." He said and he grimaced slightly. I decided that it was time I ask my own questions and get my own answers.**

"**Edward, why did you kiss me like that?" He looked stunned for a moment before his entire face crumpled in sadness. " I mean, I've been wishing that would happen for the last one hundred years but … you don't love me anymore Edward! You said so yourself. It was why you left me in the first place." I could hear how my voice had become exasperated. I needed to know the answer to this. If it was the only thing he told me here, I'd be happy. He let out a giant gust of air and pinched the bridge of his nose.**

"**I never stopped loving you, Bella. I've loved you this entire time with everything I have in me. What I told you that September … was a lie. I **_**had **_**to leave." he sounded like he was trying to convince himself of this as well as me. "You weren't safe with us being here. I almost got you killed by James and then Jasper attacked you … it wasn't right, we were tempting fate … all of us. When I told you I didn't love you, it was the very blackest form of blasphemy. But it was my only option. I had to tell you that so that you would find it easier to move on. What I did and what I said was for your own good."**

**By the end of his little speech I was seething. **_**For your own good **_**rattled around brutally in my head. He had no idea. No idea at all.**

"**For my own good?" I snarled. " Do you have any idea what that did to me? It damn near killed me, Edward! Because of you and your little lie my life was worthless to me. It was a bleak wasteland, full of nothing. I had nothing to live for because you took it all away from me and now you come back here and tell me it was for my own damn good!?" I yelled jumping to my feet. Edward didn't say anything, he looked frozen. He was laying in the exact same place staring at the space I had been occupying a few seconds before.**

**Finally he snapped out of it and joined me in standing.**

"**Bella … I,"**

"**No." I cut him off. "Edward, look I love you. I never stopped loving you, but I also never lied about it." He hung his head. "I want to be with you, I really do Edward but I need time. I told you that earlier but I need it now more than I did then. I feel betrayed by you and I can't just forgive that straight away. Your words have caused me pain for so long, it's not something I can just pretend didn't happen. I … I'm going to have to learn to trust you again." And I was. Edward, whether he thought he was doing the right thing or not, had betrayed my trust and caused me so much more suffering than was necessary for me to ever have experienced. "We need to start from the bottom and work our way up, it's going to be hard but if it's what's meant to be then there's no doubt in my mind that this will work for us. But if it does get hard and things start to seem impossible, you have to promise me that you won't run again, Edward. I don't think I could live through another heart break like that." As I awaited his answer I felt strangely powerful.**

**When Edward and I had been together, he had been the one to make all the decisions. And now the shoe was on the other foot. I was no longer some weak mortal teenager that he could push around and dazzle into submission. I was strong and power and Edward was my equal. For once he had to listen to me and truly respect what I was saying. I felt … relieved and proud. Relieved that finally there would be some give and take between Edward and myself and proud that I had managed to come this far.**

**Edward had been quiet for over a minute, he was clearly thinking over my proposition and finally answered.**

"**Bella, I promise to never run from you again. I understand that this will be hard on both of us, but I love you and I need for us to be together. I won't ****ever**** run again." His eyes held such an intensity as they bore into mine that I simply had to believe him.**

**This had to work.**

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed this one! I worked my butt off to make it longer! Big shout out here for dementedevilpixie formerly known as wendybaliles. I seriously love this chick! She is an awesome fic writer and an awesome buddy to have around. Seriously some of our MSN discussions are just … crazy haha. Her story "I Know" is now finished (sad face!) however it is an amazing read, it's hilarious and full of lemony goodness as well as vodka, absinthe and magic mushroom tea. Honestly go check it out and show her some love. It's rated "M" for a reason though so if you're one of my younger readers, I'd steer clear.**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	15. Nothing to Lose

_**Disclaimer : Stephenie Meyer is Queen of all things in the Twilight universe. I'm just borrowing!**_

_Chapter 15! I hope you guys enjoy it and please, please review! I don't know when the next chapter will be up and I move tomorrow and start college on Monday but I promise to try and have it up as soon as possible! _

This week was taunting me. It passed by at an excruciatingly slow pace. The electric tension between Edward and I did nothing but increase vigorously with every passing day. It was a vicious circle. Every day after lunch we would enter the room and be tortured silently for a full hour, I found myself sighing with relief every time I left the room.

The electric tension followed Edward and I everywhere we went but it always seemed to intensify for that one hour everyday, like it knew this was where it had all begun for us.

Maddy and I started sitting with the Cullen's at lunch, upon Alice's insistence of course, it was like falling into a familiar routine. I felt fully comfortable around them, despite the energy flowing between Edward and I, it was as if the last one hundred years apart hadn't happened.

I was always wedged firmly between Alice and Maddy who were both squeaking bundles of excitement on either side of me. Edward kept his distance, normally seated at the other end of the table.

I think Maddy was happy to have so many new people she could interact with. I couldn't say I blamed her. Every single one of the Cullen's seemed to adore her, taking her as one of their own without question. I was relieved to say the least. Even though Maddy and I had stuck together defiantly for so long, I still felt like I belonged with the Cullen's and If they had, had a problem with Maddy I don't know what I would have done.

Having Emmett back in my life was unbelievable. I hadn't realised the full extent to which I'd missed him. He had always seemed like the big brother I had never had and losing him had been terrible, but now he was back at my side cracking stupid jokes and generally being an oaf. He would always greet me with a massive grin every time I saw him and every chance he got he'd catch me up into a huge hug. Every time this occurred I thanked God that I didn't need to breathe anymore, I was sure that if I had, indeed, still needed oxygen to function I wouldn't have made it past our reuniting hug early on Tuesday morning.

Maddy and I had been standing in the parking lot, talking aimlessly, trying to avoid the subject of the Cullen's after all that I had been laden with yesterday, I felt I needed a slight break from that particular topic. After about five minutes the Cullen cars pulled into their respective places and so we began to head towards the main school building. I was vaguely aware of thundering footsteps behind me before I heard Emmett yell.

"Nuh-uh! Not so fast Bella!" Before I could even turn around, a pair of massive arms had encircled me, pulling me clean off of my feet. He spun me around in mid-air and hugged into me as if his immortal life depended on it. "I've missed you little sis." He said into my hair. I giggled gently but felt a strange sort of tug on my heart strings. That was when I fully came to comprehend how much I had missed my bear of a big brother.

"I've missed you too, Em!" I said with as much fervour as I could.

Rosalie always met me with a cold and positively terrifying glare. I remembered, vaguely, always being intimidated by her but back in my human days she chose to ignore me, only shooting the occasional glare my way. Now, however, it was as if I had a constant laser beam concentrated on some part of my body at all times.

Every time she looked at me I felt Maddy tense at my side. I could almost feel it in the air that their face off was set in stone and was soon to come. The thought of the two of them coming up against each other still amused me to no end.

Jasper still kept his distance. I'd be lying if I said that didn't upset me, when I was human he had reason to stay away from me but now? I just didn't understand it. Maybe he just didn't feel as comfortable around me as the rest. With the exception of his "_twin _", Rosalie, Jasper had been the only one of the Cullen family that never really got to know me. Either that or the fact that he'd tried to kill me made him feel too guilty to want to be in close proximity to me. I resolved myself then and there that I'd find a time to tell him that I didn't blame him for what happened. Japer was just acting on instinct, it had always been a possibility that something like that would have happened when I was around vampires so often. Edward just had to go and over react.

_Drama queen._

It was finally Friday lunch time, I couldn't wait for the weekend. This week had been eventful to say the least and I was desperate to have my two full days of freedom from this place.

"Bella!" Alice squealed excitedly. "Will you come to our house tonight? Please, please, please Bella! Maddy will be coming too of course. Please Bella! Please!" She was positively bouncing up and down in her chair, gaining more than a few strange looks from passing students.

I was sure if she kept bouncing at such an erratic pace she would either begin to levitate or break the chair. I laughed at her and put a hand on her shoulder to try and still her movements. Of course that didn't work, my arm just proceeded to vibrate violently.

"Alice, like you don't know what my answers going to be already! We'd love to come. I've been dying to see Esme and Carlisle ever since I realised you were all really here!" Alice's squeal was almost deafening as it reverberated through the cafeteria, before she dropped her eyes to her lap. Her sudden change in demeanour occurred so quickly, I was genuinely worried. I was sure I heard her mutter _"Actually, no. I didn't know what your answer would be." _Before she screwed up her face. She spoke so quietly that even with my vampire hearing I couldn't be sure that I'd heard correctly. I chose to shrug it off, Alice would be fine.

After lunch we all began to split ways, I was about to head after Edward towards biology when Alice pulled me to the side. She was smiling so hugely I was surprised it didn't touch her ears. Before I knew what was going on she had enveloped me in her arms.

"Thank you, Bella! So much!!" I laughed

"For what Alice? Agreeing to come to your house? I don't see why thanks is in order for that."

"No, silly!" She chided playfully. "It was you! It was all you!"

"Okay … you've lost me."

"Bella, when we first talked about moving back to Forks I got visions! All I could see was that every single one of us would be indescribably happy again for the first time in too long! I couldn't see why at the time, but I know it's because of you! I know things are rough with you and Edward right now, but the change you've already procured from him is phenomenal. Everything's going to work out Bella! I can't see why or how but it will! All lose ends are going to be tied and we'll all be happy again and," She blew out a puff of air … I was surprised she had any left in there. "just thank you Bella. You have no idea how much I've missed you! How much we've _all _missed you." She smiled at me again and I hugged her. I was about to return the sentiment when the bell rang.

"Gotta get to class! See you later Bella!" Alice chirped and then the was gone, dancing lithely down the hallway. I shook my head and laughed to myself, I'd missed her so much it was hard to put into words. I reached Biology before the teacher did, thankfully, and took my seat next to Edward.

Mr. Barnes walked in a few minutes later, laden down with worksheet's. He began to pass them out and told us we would be working in groups of four on Monohybrid crosses. Edward and I had the pleasure of being partnered with a pair of extremely girly, giggly girls that sat at the table in front of us.

As they turned their chairs around to allow them to work at our desk, I couldn't help but notice how much they were looking at Edward. In fact _'looking' _wasn't even an adequate word to describe it. They were flat out staring at him.

_Back off! He. Is. Mine. _My mental voice snarled menacingly. An inexplicable urge to claim Edward as my own was starting to overpower me, I tried to get myself under control. Being a vampire certainly had it's downsides when it came to emotions. I'd noticed that I'd become more prone to wanting to exact my revenge on anyone who'd wronged me, and on top of that I was… possessive. I'd never been one for possessiveness in the past but right now in this moment all I could think about was the fact the Edward was mine and nobody else's.

We began writing the answers out on the work sheets, Edward and I both knew this stuff like the back of our hands and didn't need any textbook help.

"Wow." The girl sitting across from Edward breathed. "You are like, so smart! Do you not even need to check the textbook?" She asked, awe and wonder colouring her tone. _Calm down! It's just Biology, nothing exactly impressive! _

Edward merely shook his head and carried on with his work sheet as if she hadn't said a word. The girls shared a disappointed glance at his all to obvious snub. _Haha! _We continued with the work in front of us in silence, until I noticed the girls textbook getting closer and closer to Edwards hand.

The girl reached out to pull it back towards her and let her hand graze the back of his lightly. I could feel a growl begin to build in my chest. She sucked in a gasp of air and gazed at him in wonderment, yet again.

"Your hands are like … so cold! Why?" I felt like slamming my head off of the desk. In fact I would have if I hadn't been certain that the entire structure would give way due to the sheer force. Edward merely shrugged and pulled his belongings closer to him. Again the girls shared a glance, obviously not amused that their tactics were failing to enchant the man-god sitting before them.

A few more minutes passed before they tried another tactic.

"My name's Britney!" The one with short blonde hair said in a positively bubbly tone.

"And I'm Amanda!" The other, with longer light brown hair, stated.

"But you can call us Brit and Mandy if you like." Britney beamed at Edward, who looked positively terrified. I know for a fact he's come up against female affection before, but I think he might have managed to always escape the over zealous fan girl types … until now.

"What's your name?" Amanda asked, while Britney managed to pull off a rather impressive grin Amanda looked like her face had been caught between a grimace and a sneer.

"Edward." He stated flatly, trying desperately to continue with his work. I sighed internally. He obviously couldn't take much more of this and quite frankly neither could I.

_Edward, don't act surprised. Just play it cool. _His head jolted up infinitesimally and he looked at me out of the corner of his eye. The girls hadn't paid the slightest bit of attention to me since they sat down, well they were going to have to now.

"And I'm Bella," I said in my most bittersweet voice. "Edwards _girlfriend._" I emphasized my line with a glare at the two girls, which I thought for sure they would feel burning into their heads. I snaked my hand across the table and grasped Edwards right, with my left. I was met with a shock of electricity tingling it's way up my arm. I welcomed it, it made me believe I had a right to claim him as my own.

The girls, whose eyes had snapped to me and widened in either shock or horror, followed the movement of my hand as it clasped firmly with Edwards.

"Oh … um … ah … Hi … Bella." Britney stammered. _Yeah! That's right, be afraid little girl … be very afraid._ I simply smiled at her, took my hand gently from Edwards grasp and started working again. My plan succeeded, for the rest of the class the girls didn't say a thing to either of us. Although I did catch them sneaking glances at Edward when they thought I wasn't looking.

As we left the class I was aware of Edward standing very close behind me, he leaned down and whispered "Thank you." in my ear. I shuddered and turned around to say something to him but was met with his retreating form walking down the hallway. I smiled to myself and headed towards Gym.

Gym thankfully passed relatively quickly. It turned out Amanda was in my class and I'd made the mistake of telling Maddy about what happened in Biology. Poor Amanda found herself getting pelted by volleyball after volleyball by Maddy, who never once showed any kind of remorse for her actions.

After the bell rang we headed out to the parking lot only to be accosted by Alice.

"When are you guys coming over?" She said standing between Maddy and I and linking arms with both of us.

"We're just going home to dump our bags and then we'll hunt for a bit. So about six?" I asked.

"Perfect!" She said. As we reached the parking lot Alice took her arms back and kissed us both swiftly on the cheek, said _Bye! _and headed over to stand next to Jasper. She turned around halfway and gave us a wave and smile before she continued on her way.

"I really like her!" Maddy said as we got into the car. I giggled.

"Of course you do Maddy, for one she's proof that there's someone in the world that's shorter than you and for another you're both equally excitable!" She giggled as well.

"That's true!"

Maddy and I made it home and hunted without incident. After going home to change we made our way to Cullen's. It was just then that I realised that I didn't actually know where they were staying this time around. I figured it was probably the same place they stayed the last time they were here, so I headed in that direction. If it wasn't … well I was sure we'd find them somehow.

As luck would have it, it was the mansion they were staying in. It looked amazing. It was as if it hadn't changed one bit in the last one hundred years. It didn't even look as if it had been affected by the weather.

We made our way up to the front door, before I could even knock the door flew open and I found myself in the arms of Esme. She had me in what would have been a bone crushing hug and I could tell she wasn't going to let go for a while.

"Hi, Esme." I laughed, squeezing her slightly.

"Oh, Bella dear!" She said relinquishing her hold on me and putting her hands on my shoulders. "I've missed you so much. You look so stunning sweetheart, vampirism suits you." She smiled at me with so much motherly warmth I thought my heart was about to burst.

"Thank you." I said smiling back at her, acknowledging that if I still had the ability to blush … I would be.

"This is Madison Pierce," I said gesturing towards Maddy. "but if you value your life, I'd just call her Maddy." I said giggling again. Esme smiled at me and made her way over to stand in front of Maddy.

"It's wonderful to meet you, Maddy." Esme said and gave her a small hug.

"You too, I've heard such wonderful things about you from Bella." Maddy said smiling up at Esme as she released her from her hug. Esme simply smiled at her warmly and gestured to us to follow her into the house.

"This place looks fantastic, Esme." I gushed. " I can't believe it still looks so perfect after such a long amount of time."

"Oh believe me … it didn't." She said as I looked at her questioningly. "When we found it again it was almost entirely rubble. I don't think anyone chose to live here after we left it. We had to build it again from scratch. I toyed with the idea of making it look more modern, but I just loved the way it used to look and I couldn't help myself." She said with a small laugh.

"I'm glad, I used to love the way this place looked." I was speaking the truth. I'd always loved the design of this house, even though it had always been occupied by vampires it reminded me of warmth and home. Esme lead us into the living area where all the Cullen's sat around sporadically. Rosalie got out of her chair and promptly left the room. I guess that was to be expected.

"Me first!" Jasper yelled out suddenly and bounded towards me. The next thing I knew he was hugging me. I was a strange experience, I'd never been this close to Jasper. His hug made me feel… safe and loved.

"You have no idea how good it feels to be this close to you and not want to eat you!" Jasper laughed as he set me back on my feet and I giggled along with him.

"Jasper!" Esme chastised, clearly not pleased with his choice of words. That just made us laugh harder.

"I'm slightly confused though." I said as our laughing fit sobered up and Jasper looked down at me with his brow furrowed.

"Why?"

"Because you've kept such a distance from me at school. I didn't know if you just didn't feel comfortable around me or if you were still guilty from … well … you know." I said. Jaspers brow furrowed even further and then he spoke.

"At school I just didn't want to crowd you. I mean Alice and Emmett have been all over you every chance they get. I remembered that you never liked getting a lot of attention so I just took a back seat. But, Bella about that … thing. I never got a chance to apologize." he said throwing a reproachful glance at Edward who, in turn, hung his head. "Bella, I am so sorry about what happened. I never had good control around blood as it was and you were right there in front of me, bleeding freely. When the scent hit my nostrils I wasn't me anymore. I was a hunter and you were easy prey. Please believe me Bella. I didn't want to cause you harm I just couldn't control myself." His eyes were bearing into mine begging me to believe him. Willing me to forgive him.

"Jasper," I said touching my hand to the side of his face. "I never blamed you for what happened. I knew the dangers of being around vampires from the start, if I told you I didn't expect something like that to happen to one of you at some point, I'd be lying. It's in your nature it's part of who you are. I won't forgive you, Jasper. Because in my eyes there is nothing to forgive." His arms wrapped around me again.

"Thank you, Bella." he said into my hair. He put me down and we turned to see everyone staring at us, we shared a glance and said "What?" at the same time. Everyone just shook their heads wearing slight smiles.

Carlisle walked over to me next, he hugged me briefly and then kissed my hand causing me to giggle yet again.

"It's great to have you back, Bella." He said with a smile before moving to stand in front of Maddy and introduce himself to her.

"Come and sit down you two." Esme said pointing to two chairs. Maddy and I complied.

"There's something I wanted to talk to you both about." Carlisle said as he, too, took a seat. Maddy and I glanced at each other worriedly. Carlisle laughed. "Don't worry it's not anything bad." He raised his voice slightly. "Rosalie, could you come back in here please? We have something we need to discuss as a family." Rosalie reappeared seconds later. Instead of taking a seat she chose to stand in the doorway.

"So," Carlisle began before he was cut off by Alice.

"Powers! Do either of you have powers? Because my visions are being really weird and it's starting to freak me out!" Carlisle sighed and shook his head.

"Well yes that was the question I was going to ask. Although I was going to be a little more in depth about it. As Alice has told you, she foresaw that we would all be very happy here in Forks but she couldn't see the reason why. However, as the week has progressed her visions have become less and less informative. Except for in the case of Rosalie, whom she can still see clearly. The only reason we can think of for this would be if either of you had a power." He finished and looked at us both.

"The only power I've come across of mine is that I can … talk? I guess is the best way to put it, into peoples minds. But only when I want to. As far as I can tell Edward still can't read my mind." I looked towards him for conformation and he nodded his head. I shrugged. "But other than that we've not come across anything else either of us can do. Also the first time I used my power was here in Forks. I didn't even know I was doing it." Maddy nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, she scared the hell out of me while I was in the shower. I thought she was actually in there with me!" She said and everyone chuckled. Carlisle continued.

"It's just a bit disconcerting that Alice can't see anything, or much. We rely on her gift a lot more than we thought and to be honest we're afraid of what the consequences could be." Maddy and I shared another look. If the Cullen's fell under attack from something and it was because of either of us … I didn't know if I would ever be able to forgive myself. Edward spoke up next.

"So, we've been trying to figure out a way to be sure of what's going on. You can say no to this if you wish. This plan was only to designed to give us piece of mind, we were wondering if you would accompany us to Alaska? We have a friend there, his power being that he can read other vampires powers. We also thought it would be useful for you to both know your powers so that you can work on them or learn to utilize them should you ever need to. With Alice, Jasper and I it was obvious what our powers were as they affect us directly but with both of you it might be different." I looked at Maddy, she seemed to be thinking it through.

"You don't need to give us an answer right now, feel free to take time to think it over." Carlisle said, Maddy and I ignored him. As far as I could see, we had nothing to lose by going to Alaska. In fact we would have quite a lot to gain. Hopefully this friend of the Cullen's could shed some more light on my ability. I continued to watch her as she continued to think. After a couple of minutes she locked eyes with me.

_Do you want to go? _I asked in my mind. A grin spread across her beautiful face and she nodded. I grinned too.

"Looks like we're going to Alaska!" I said cheerily. The Cullen's all sighed a breath of relief before thanking us.

"We'll work out some sort of plan and perhaps we can head up there next weekend?" Carlisle asked.

"Is there anything stopping us from going right now?" Maddy asked still beaming. Carlisle looked to Alice, who scrunched up her face.

"I can only see Rosalie and flashes of the rest of us. From what I can tell though, we'd make it there in one piece." And with that declaration the Cullen's jumped to life. I presume they were running to pack for the weekend away.

"Bella, you and Maddy go home and pack a weekend bag, don't bother bringing your car back. We'll use ours!" And with that Alice disappeared from the room.

Maddy and I ran out to car after saying a quick good by and assuring them that we would return soon before we headed towards our house.

An impromptu trip to Alaska? This should be interesting.

**A/N : Hope you guys enjoyed it! It's the biggest chapter so far and it wasn't even supposed to be! So the next chapter the Cullen's, Bella and Maddy descend upon the Denali's. Should be fun eh? Any theories as to why Alice can still see Rosalie so clearly? I'd love to hear them and see if any of you get it! Thank you so much for all the reviews! Chapter 13 ended up getting 32 alone! That is so amazing! I love you guys!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**

_P.S : Teaser : Could Maddy be finding a mate in Alaska? Oo I think she might just be!_


	16. Cold

_**Disclaimer : Twilight's still not mine guys … I wish it was though!**_

_Here we go chapter 16 finally! Sorry for the long wait but college and real life have been hectic. However, I have now learnt how to do facials and leg waxing =P. So this chapter goes out to two people. My beautiful big sister Karen who was the first one to read this and my good buddy Wendy ,dementedevilpixie , the author of " I know" she's started writing a lot of other amazing fan fictions I suggest you all go give them a look but be warned they are all rated "M". Also thank you so much to everyone who has reviewed this story, Left Behind currently has over 300 reviews and to be honest I never thought I would get that many! I can't thank you enough! Read & Review!!! _

**BellaPOV.**

The trip to Alaska went smoothly. I wish I could say the same for our arrival. The Denali's welcomed the Cullen's with vigour and hugs, whereas Maddy and I were shunned with the exception of a nod from Eleazar and a hug from Carmen, who was easily the nicest out of the four females. Tanya, Kate and Irina looked us up and down before turning away and stalking towards their home dragging a Cullen along with them, each.

Before we made it through the front door however Emmett stopped us all.

"Hold on a minute guys." He said looking specifically at Tanya, Kate and Irina. "Don't you think you should introduce yourselves to Bella and Maddy?" He paused and folded his arms across his chest. Tanya huffed and rolled her eyes before sashaying her way towards us.

"Hello, I'm Tanya Denali. Welcome to my home and I hope you enjoy your stay here." Her voice was rigid belaying no warmth or hospitality. She turned her head to Emmett, raising an eyebrow as if to ask whether her greeting would do. It was Edward who answered her questioning look.

"They're family Tanya, not guests at a hotel." He snarled.

"Oh, Edward darling, don't be like that." She cooed running her hand down his arm. My stomach felt like it was doing backward flips and venom began to pool in my mouth. I knew that I was seconds from attacking her. Like earlier today with those idiotic high school girls my possessive side reared it's ugly head. However in this situation it was much less rational to attack … Tanya was a far more experienced vampire than I was. I had never fought anyone, vampire or human, since my transformation. Tanya could easily tear me apart.

_Edward. _I thought. _Step away from the strawberry blonde._

He shot and extremely puzzled look in my direction but complied with my instruction straight away, he looked almost relieved to be out of arms reach of Tanya. Esme sighed and shook her head before looking towards Irina and Kate.

"The sooner you get this over and done with the sooner we can get inside." The two woman looked at each other before sharing an infinitesimal shrug.

"Irina."

"Kate." well I guess that was better than nothing. I nodded to them both, I saw Maddy doing the same thing out of the corner of my eye and with that everyone turned towards the door again.

After we made it inside, Carlisle didn't beat about the bush.

"So, Eleazar, we came here with a question for you," Eleazar nodded to him to continue. " we were wondering if you could use your power on Bella and Maddy? They are the two newest members to our coven, Bella being a returning member," He gave me a comforting smile. "and we feel it would be useful to fully understand what they're capable of. We already know that Bella can project thoughts into the minds of others at will, however Edward cannot read her mind."

"Of course, Carlisle." Eleazar stated with another nod of the head.

"Bella, Maddy?" Esme asked. "Can you please both go and stand next to Eleazar?" We nodded and moved to stand next to the man. He circled us both, concentration plain on his face. It was few minutes before he spoke.

"I'm picking up that they are both shields. Bella protects only herself, and its just her mind that she's protecting although I feel that if she worked at it she could extend that to protect others at will. Kate did something similar, in the beginning she could only pulse electric currents through the palms of her hands, however after half a century of persistent practice, she can pulse the current from any point on her body …including every area at the one time. Bella also has the power to have people hear her thoughts at will as you already said. Maddy," he said turning towards her. "Is also a shield."

"Really?" Maddy asked sounding awed. He nodded. "I never thought I would have a power."

"From what I can tell," Eleazar continued "Maddys shield works in a way that she protects people she likes or loves from possible harm."

"I guess that makes sense." Maddy said, her brow furrowed as she contemplated this. "In my human life I spent all my time trying to protect my mother from my abusive father, I've always felt such an overwhelming need to protect those people closest to me…Carlisle, back in Forks did you say that Alice could only see Rosalie clearly?" Carlisle nodded. "That also makes sense." She said shooting a glare at Rosalie who hissed.

"Girls." Esme warned as Emmett wrapped one of his huge arms around Rosalie's shoulders, half comforting, half restraining. Eleazar who had listened intently during the entire exchange looked back to Maddy before speaking again.

"Carlisle I would advise you to try and teach Maddy in a similar way to Bella. Whereas with Bella you will be teaching her how to stretch her shield, Maddy should be taught how to pull it back. Alice's visions are vital to your way of life, over time you have become overly reliant on them. If Maddy becomes close to every member of your coven you won't know when danger is coming and that is a danger in itself." Carlisle mutely nodded his head and rubbed his chin. It was an odd mannerism. Carlisle was over 400 years old by now and what he was doing was reminiscent of what a man with stubble would do. In an odd way it made him seem more human.

It was then that Alice spoke up. "Maddy, you said that you feel an overwhelming need to protect those close to you and Eleazar believes that you only protect those you like or love … but then that doesn't make sense. I know my vision isn't perfect and things do occasionally slip by me but when it came to Bella I saw everything major that happened to her, which wasn't very often but I did see it all, regardless. For example the day she spoke to Angela again … I saw that. And when Charlie died … I saw that too. So I don't understand how I could miss something as astronomically large as her being murdered. And it also doesn't make sense that your power would protect her from my sight when at the time you didn't even know her."

Maddy looked deep in thought again. The room was deadly silent, waiting for Maddy's answer. I was eager to find out the answer my self, Alice had posed an intriguing question.

"I can answer that." She said, finally, locking eyes with Alice. "From the moment I smelt Bella's blood and heard her faint heartbeat, I felt hope. I hoped, in my subconscious I believe because I wanted to deny my selfish side, that this dying human whoever he or she was could become like me and be some sort of companion to me. Then when I saw her face I knew I couldn't let her die. I felt some strange pull towards her, as if somewhere deep down I knew that this fragile dying mortal girl would allow me to find a life I had never truly known possible. One with trust and friendship and … fun. As I got to know her, those feelings only intensified. I love Bella, she has been such an amazing person not only did she forgive me for turning her into a monster to satiate my own selfish needs and desires but she befriended me. At the time I didn't realise that, that was what was happening but over the last couple of decades I've been mulling it over a lot." My dead heart was tugged by some unknown force. It was at that moment that I finally understood that Maddy and I had not simply became companions due to unfortunate circumstances… we had saved each other. In so many ways.

I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by the door opening and a man saying "Honeys I'm Home." in a thick Scottish accent. I turned to look at the man who had just entered, as did everybody else and he stopped in his tracks.

He was very tall, almost as tall as Emmett … maybe 6ft 4. He was built well with dark brown hair and a masculine face. His eyes were almost fully golden, although there was a hint of orange lurking there. He was relatively new to this way of life, I remembered my own eyes being that colour once.

"Did I come at a bad time?" He asked looking slightly sheepish.

"No, not at all Kerr," Kate cooed in a sickly sweet tone. "These are the Cullen's," she named each one and pointed to the corresponding vampire. "and _that _is Isabella Swan or just "Bella"" I could practically hear the air quotations in her tone. "and _that _is Madison Pierce or "Maddy"" Again with the air quotations. I looked at Maddy with a raised eyebrow expecting the same in return, but she wasn't looking at me. Her eyes were wide and locked on Kerr. I turned my head to look at him and his eyes seemed to mirror hers. It was then that a an imperceptible shift happened, the atmosphere around us changed.

Kate was still talking in the background, this time introducing Kerr but no one was listening to her. Everyone was watching that two vampires that seemed to be star struck by one another.

Maddy began to walk forward until she was standing right in front of him, her head tilted back so that she could still see his face. Kerr came out of his daze and smiled down at her, she returned the smile. Then they turned and left through the door Kerr had just entered.

We all stood there silently stunned for at least five minutes before Emmett laughed, we all turned to look at him.

"Bet you didn't see that one coming Ali!" And with that he let loose a roar of laughter, before long everyone had joined in with him, even Eleazar chuckled. Well everyone except Tanya, Kate and Irina. Their facial expressions were mirror images of each others, they were angry. Very, very angry.

But I couldn't care less. I felt elated. Maddy had found a mate.

She had everything she had ever wanted.

**A/N : Thanks for reading everybody =] Reviews are love. So, obviously I have college again this week but I have all my ideas planned for chapter 17 and chapter 18 so yay! I'll get them typed up and posted a.s.a.p. **

**Much Love,**

**Rachael.**


	17. Important Update!

**Hello there everyone! **

**This is just a quick wee update to let everyone know what's going on. I've been getting a few reviews asking if I've stopped writing this story and I can honestly tell you all right now that I definitely have not stopped writing! **

**As I've said before things have been really hectic, I go to college 4 days a week and then as soon as I come home I'm running around after my sisters children and if I'm not doing that I'm spending much needed time with friends. I'm so sorry I haven't updated in so long because of this but I just really haven't had the time!**

**However, I'm home for the weekend so hopefully there should be a new chapter up and I can also tell you that chapter 17 is in the works and is sitting at about 5 pages long right now and will probably have a good few more pages to go because a lot is happening in it!! There'll be the explanation as to why the Denali's are being so … mean to Bella and Maddy, also there will be Kerr's back story along with the people in Forks reaction to Kerr and then a kinda surprise ending which indicates that maybe somebody we haven't heard from in a while will be returning!**

**I swear that I'll try my hardest to get it out for either tonight or tomorrow!**

**So yeah I hope that's cleared a few things up and I hope you'll all continue to read Left Behind. We've got a few things we still need to resolve which I'm hoping will make for some pretty interesting chapters! **

**Thank you all so much for all the reviews! I never ever thought I would get so many and it just astounds me to no end! **

**Much Love,**

**Rachael. **


	18. Bring on the Wonder

_**Disclaimer : Twilight still isn't mine … if it was … man I'd be rich.**_

_Sorry it took so long! Anyways this ones dedicated to the real life Kerr! Who's one of my most amazing buddies. He's actually hilarious! Also I'm warning you all right now that when we get to the back story … it contains some very dark themes. I know that this story is rated T but this was the only thing that seemed to fit. It's not graphic or anything like that, but it's the kind of thing that just won't sit right with any of you and for that I'm sorry. It even made me feel quite sick just thinking about it so I apologize in advance. I'm going to add in a warning and end warning for the specific part so if any of you want to skip it you can. _**Important : **Also I've started a little thing called Left Behind : Extras & Outtakes. The first outtake is up if you'd like to take a look and the next post will be an extra which should be making an appearance within the next couple of days =]. _Also another big thank you to Wendy, dementedevilpixie, she really helped me pick up this chapter and gave me some really great ideas! _

_Please Read&Review._

**BellaPOV.**

The rest of our stay went pretty much the same way as our arrival did. The three Denali sisters refused to talk to Maddy and I, let alone make any sort of eye contact other than glaring and on top of that they snubbed Kerr entirely.

Tanya, however, was persistent when it came to Edward. She would coo over him, rub his arms, chest, hands, legs, face. Anything she could touch … she would. I chose to look away whenever it happened. For three reasons.

1) I didn't particularly feel like getting into a fight with Tanya. Mostly because I knew I would end up torn apart and set on fire.

2) I felt like my possessiveness over Edward was going too far. I love him, but I had been the one that said we needed to take this slow. I couldn't be constantly ordering him away from other women. It wasn't fair and it wasn't the kind of person I wanted to be.

3) If I was honest, it broke me a little bit inside every time it happened. Tanya was beautiful when she didn't have a scowl on her face. Unfortunately it was only me, Maddy and Kerr on the receiving end of that scowl. Edward got a beautiful smile every time he turned her way. And because of that my old insecurities set in. Again, I didn't want to be that person. I didn't want to be insecure. But I was…and it hurt.

That brought me to where I was right now. I was standing in the grounds around the Denali's home, with all the sickly sweet behaviour going on inside … I felt like I needed some fresh air. It was the early hours of Sunday morning and we were due to be leaving later that day. I couldn't wait to finally leave this weekend behind me.

I was standing, taking in the breath taking landscape before me when I heard movement coming from behind me. I was hoping like hell that it wasn't Tanya.

Luck must have been on my side for once because it wasn't her. It was Esme. I didn't even have to turn around to know. She had placed a hand on my shoulder and with that simple touch, motherly love seemed to flow through my dead body, warming me.

When I finally did turn to face her, I was welcomed with a loving smile which I returned gratefully.

"Take a walk with me." She said taking my arm and striding towards the forest that surrounded the land here. Once we were out of vampire earshot of the house, Esme began talking. "Bella, I'd like to offer you an explanation to the girls behaviour this weekend." I sighed, it wasn't exactly my favourite subject to discuss. Esme seemed to notice this and patted my arm gently.

" I know its been a hard couple of days for you sweetheart, and I in no way condone their actions. However, I believe if you knew why they were acting like this … it would maybe give you some peace of mind?" She was asking my approval to go ahead with what she had to say. Who was I to deny Esme anything?

"I can't say I believe that knowing whatever it is you have to tell me will give me peace of mind, but I'll listen all the same." I said smiling slightly at her. She nodded her head. We kept walking, arm in arm, as she began to speak.

"Tanya, Kate and Irina have lived for a very long time. Longer than Carlisle even, if you can believe that. And during that time they have lived a life of frivolity, they always got what they wanted when they wanted it and nobody asked any questions. They abused their beauty, and with that they had the world at their fingertips. They used men, both human and vampire, to satiate their many needs. But these men were disposable to them. The humans were killed and the vampires simply got told to leave when they had served their purpose, refusal to do so ended in death for them as well. However, when they first met our family, which at the time merely consisted of Edward and Carlisle, they wanted to change. They saw that our kind _could_ have a better side, they saw the good in Edward and Carlisle. So they too turned to a life of vegetarianism. It was hard for them, but they did it none the less. Tanya was taken by Edward from the very first moment she saw him, but not the way you were. With Tanya it was on a superficial level. Edward was beautiful and she wanted to collect him, like she had done with so many others and that's all it was to her at the time. With you … I believe you and Edward fell in love at first sight and it had nothing to do with how beautiful you both are on the outside. It was because of the beauty and promise you held for each other on the inside. You were intrigued by each other and it was like nothing I had ever seen or heard of before." She stopped talking for a minute and smiled to herself, perhaps remembering what it had been like for Edward and I in the beginning.

"So the next time the Denali's met our family, I had become a part of it. It was then that they knew that it was possible to be invited in and made a Cullen, if I had managed it then surely they could. Since then, they have always wanted to become an immediate part of our family, but that just didn't make sense. Tanya held no interest for Edward where as you … you're his entire world and then some. So back when you and Edward first got together and Tanya had found out that a weak human had managed to steal Edwards heart and achieved something she had never been able too … she felt resentment. Resentment towards a girl she didn't even know until a couple of days ago. It didn't help either, that after Edward left you, Tanya saw a window of opportunity. She tried harder with him than she ever had before, but it was evident that he was still in love with you and mourning the loss of you in his life. So that anger and resentment built up and up and up over the years … but it was never released. Now you're here and you're the perfect outlet for those feelings she's kept locked up inside for so long. With Kate and Irina it's different. They wanted to be a part of our family purely because of the promise we held, but Tanya is their sister and when she feels hurt or betrayed or if she feels hate or anger towards someone, they will mirror it. They stand by her side regardless of whether they think she's right or wrong. It's what family does." She stopped walking and looked me dead in the eye.

"Our family loves you Bella. You are one of us and you always have been. Even after we left, your space was there with us, empty and waiting to be filled. But it couldn't be filled by just anyone it could only be you. And finally we've got you back. What you have to understand is that it's not only Edward in this family that loves you, we _all_ do. We all need you more than you even know, you have to understand that and you have to understand that we would never trade you or change you for anything or anyone else in this world." Her eyes bore into mine, willing me to believe.

I believed.

I hugged Esme into me fiercely. I would never know what I had done to deserve these wonderful people in my life. What Esme had just told me about Tanya _had_ given me peace of mind. Instead of feeling beneath her I felt … sorry for her. Not in a condescending way, but I could understand how horrible it must feel to have everything you've ever wanted ripped out from underneath you. I'd been there.

I knew that Tanya and I would never be able to fix this. She had hated me before she even knew me and I had what she wanted. And I wasn't willing to let it go.

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Back at the house, everyone was getting ready to leave. We were all milling around in the living room when Maddy shoved Kerr in Carlisle's direction. He glared at her playfully before walking to stand in front of him.

"Sir…" he started but Carlisle interrupted him.

"Please, it's Carlisle." He said smiling.

"Oh alright then, Carlisle. So … uh … I was wondering … is there any chance I could come back to Forks with you? I know it's a lot to ask but I just don't want to leave Maddy and I know it sounds weird me asking your permission when I wouldn't even be staying in your home … but it's your territory and I'm new to this way of life. I would hate to come uninvited only to make some great mistake or …" Carlisle was waving his arms in front of himself and shaking his head.

"Kerr, you are more than welcome to accompany us back to Forks. If you need a place to stay until you find a place of your own, our door is always open." Kerr grinned and nodded his head.

"Thanks! I really appreciate that, Carlisle." He turned to Maddy who was grinning so largely I couldn't even comprehend how she was managing it.

"Oh, Edward." Tanya cooed, yet again, sighing exasperatedly. "Won't you stay, sweetheart? You know you're more than welcome here and I just miss you so much when you're gone." She added a little pout to the ensemble, and placed her palm on Edwards chest. What happened next surprised everyone.

Edward slapped her hand away from his chest and took a step back before running his fingers through his hair and pinching the bridge of his nose. Tanya was cradling her hand against her chest with a look of utmost horror on her face.

"Tanya let's get this straight. For the last God knows how long, my family and I have been trying to get it through your thick skull that I. AM. NOT. INTERESTED! How on earth can you lack the capacity to understand about a thousand knock backs? You are truly insufferable, how do you think I felt after I left Bella and you were crawling all over me? I love her more than my own life, _Tanya_" He more or less spat her name, you could here venom dripping from every syllable. "And you made me feel like I was betraying her trust every single time I laid eyes on you!" Tanya stood quietly for a long moment before she managed to compose herself.

"How could you feel like you were betraying the trust of some you thought had either moved on or had _died_, Edward? That just doesn't make sense!" Edward's angry façade shattered at the mention of my death, however with a deep breath in the anger and hate returned.

"Of course it doesn't make sense to you! You're heartless! You wouldn't know love if it slapped you in the face. You see people, mostly men, as possessions. Things you can keep and play with until you get bored of them and throw them away. You never loved me in the start, I was just some collectable item to you. And since them I just seem to have become some sordid obsession for you!" Tanya opened her mouth to retort, but Edward cut her off before she could so much as begin. "No, this conversation is over Tanya. I don't care about what you have to say, Bella is what I live for and I will wait until the end of _time _if that's how long she needs to learn to trust me again." With that he turned his back on her and headed out of the door.

And then I couldn't help it. Even though I knew Edward loved me, even though I knew that he would never really leave me for Tanya, even though I was shocked by his sudden speech … I couldn't stop the smile from spreading across my face like wildfire.

We left soon after that. Tanya had sulked off shortly after Edward had vacated the premises. Carmen and Eleazar acted as if nothing had happened, hugging us tightly and inviting us to return anytime. Irina & Kate stayed to see us off, but didn't say much.

I was the first one out of the door after Edward, glad to be free from what seemed to be my own, personal hell. Edward was standing against his new look Volvo, looking at me intently. I tried to ignore him, trying to stuff my case in the back of Carlisle's car, just as I finally got it in he spoke.

"I meant every word of it, you know?" He almost whispered. I shut my eyes to better resist the urge of looking at him.

"I know." I whispered back.

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The first day back at Forks High was pretty insane. Somehow overnight Jasper had managed to procure documents which stated that Kerr was his and Rosalie's Scottish cousin, leaving him named Kerr Hale. It sounded odd to me, mostly because it didn't seem to fit him, but it worked.

The story we were sticking to was that he had wanted to experience American life and so Carlisle and Esme, being the doting Aunt and Uncle that they were, offered to bring him over here and send him to school.

Everybody stared. Just like they had that first day Maddy & I arrived. We all sat together at lunch as Edward filled us in on what the surrounding students were thinking.

"The most common thought I've heard today is "How did they find another one?"" Our eyes all snapped towards him and a blanket of tension seemed to cover the entire table. "Not another vampire! Don't be ridiculous!" Edward hissed. "In the words of the majority of the girls. "How did they find another such gorgeous boy? That is one hot fake family."" Edward had adopted a high pitched voice for this explanation which had the entire table laughing and snickering. "As for the boys its more, "Ugh, that's just what we need, another pretty boy to steal all the girls attention. Where are they all even coming from?"" Again everyone at the table laughed. It was only then that we noticed that every person in the canteen was staring at us, which caused even more laughter. Eventually everyone went back to what they had been doing prior to our outburst and we were left in peace for the remainder of the day.

That night we all congregated at the Cullen mansion, with the intent of sorting out Kerr's sudden appearance in our lives more thoroughly, however Emmett put a stop to that shortly after we were seated around the dining room table.

"So Scottie..." He said in his loud booming voice, staring directly at Kerr.

"Erm ... it's Kerr."

"I'm aware of that, but you are Scottish aren't you?" Kerr nodded his head, looking utterly confused. "That's what I thought. So _Scottie_, how's about you beam me up?" A sharp crack echoed around the room, signifying the sudden connection Rosalie's right hand and Emmett's head had just made, followed swiftly by a rather load, "Ow!", from Emmett who then made the unwise decision to glare at his wife. Rosalie merely raised an eyebrow and slowly started to move her hand upwards, when Emmett finally got the point and backtracked. "Or just tell us where you came from."

Kerr seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding his head, I couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable he looked. "I guess it's fair that I tell you, after all you let me join you here with little to no questions asked. My story isn't a happy one. How I got turned isn't really of any relevance. It was simple. I don't know the name of the vampire that turned me. All I know is that he was hungry. His eyes were black as night as he came at me, teeth bared and snarling. I didn't put up much of a fight. How could I ? He was so abnormally strong … he bit me, once, right here." He stopped and pointed at his jugular.

"I remember feeling a burning pain for a few seconds before he literally started to suck the life out of me. Everything started going fuzzy at the edges, I could feel a heavy blanket of blackness trying to cover me, but I tried to resist. I fought it as hard as I could and was about to succumb when I heard it. This blood curdling howl, followed by snarling and the snapping of jaws, the vampire hissed and dropped me. It was then that the burning returned, tenfold and spreading. I could hear the vampire and what I now know was a werewolf fighting, then it started to fade away as if they were moving away from where I had been dumped. The next thing I was aware of was opening my eyes and seeing everything so much clearer than I had before. I could hear so much it was overwhelming, and I could smell everything. It was then that the sweetest scent I had ever smelled filled my nostrils, making my throat burn. You can pretty much guess what happened after that." Everyone fell silent for a moment acknowledging another precious human life lost.

"From then on I wondered aimlessly around Scotland, feeling like what I was. A monster. I killed more people than I can even bear to think about. Eventually I came full circle and ended up back in Glasgow. It had changed a lot since I'd been gone, and not in a good way. I had heard rumours but chosen not to believe them. When I arrived I realised the reality of what I had been told was at a much greater scale than I could ever have comprehended. The place was seething with vampires. It was like some full scale war, but they weren't battling for territory … they were battling for superiority. There was one vampire that seemed to be top of the food chain. His name was Alexander and he owned everything and everyone. He held all the power but little groups of vampires were plotting their revenge. I tried my hardest not to get involved but it was hard, everywhere I turned vampires were begging me to join them to take down this tyrant, and every time I turned my back and walked away. I was attacked several times as a result of this but I managed to stay alive." Kerr bowed his head and Jasper seemed to grow tense, the worst part of this tale was coming … we all knew it. Maddy, who was sitting to his right, took his hand in hers and began rubbing soothing patterns on to it with her delicate fingers. He squeezed his eyes together tightly before turning towards her and offering her a sad smile.

"I managed to evade becoming a part of anything for about six months. I tried to leave Glasgow but it was near impossible and I had seen Alexander's henchmen tear apart the ones that thought they'd managed to sneak through. One night, I was out hunting and I could feel eyes following me. I didn't know who it was and I didn't want to know. I minded my own business and kept walking. Then I heard it… just a simple hushed sentence and I knew that it was my time to be dragged into this sick war. Someone grabbed me from behind and a fight ensued, but there were others with him … more than I could handle on my own. The sun was up before they had fully restrained me and they took me to Alexander. It was then that I found out _why _he was as powerful as he was. His power. Mind Control. It was unbelievable, I think that some of the people that worked for him did it of their own accord either out of fear or just because they were sick but the majority of us were under his control. He got me straight away and that was it. I was just another number, another vampire that belonged to him and would fight to the ends of the earth to give him what he wanted. I never fought it, because I didn't think I could and for that I was rewarded. I became his right hand man. Protector and weapon of mass destruction."

"By the time five years had passed I had aided in the killings of thousands. One day we were sent on a mission to kill some of the few that were still hell bent on over throwing him. On the way there one of the members of our group, William, grew thirsty. It was against rules to hunt when on a mission but Will was one of the ones there by his own will so nothing could hold him back. He ran away from us and we followed. What we saw next will haunt me for the rest of eternity."

**(Warning.)**

"He had entered a shabby little hut and had cornered a woman who was holding a young child, a little girl about one or two years of age. He stood there cajoling her, telling her that he was going to kill them both. She begged him to leave the child and take her instead … all he did was laugh. He took the child from her arms and … and …" He blew out a huge huff of air. "I'm not going to tell you what he did for the sake of your sanity, all you have to know it that the child died a horrific death, as did the mother, and it was then that something inside me snapped."

**(End Warning.)**

"I'd just been going along with this gruesome regime because I couldn't see any way out. But in that moment I knew I could escape. It felt like a weight was lifted off of me and … it was so strange. My head felt so clear for the first time in such a long time. I knew that I had to be the one to over throw Alexander. We finally got Will back in line and carried on with our mission. I acted as though nothing had changed and it worked, nobody suspected anything of me… they hadn't noticed the change. That night I stood guard for Alexander while the majority of the others left to hunt. I was playing a waiting game. I couldn't simply walk in to Alexander's room unprovoked. Everything I did had to be ordered by him, so I waited and waited. Praying that he would call for me. Eventually he did, and I obeyed straight away. I took my place standing just behind him and to the right as he sat in his throne. He was showing me battle plans and asking my opinion, wanting to know whether I thought they would work. I leaned forward with the pretence of having a better look and that was when I did it. I lunged at his neck, sinking my teeth right in, as deep as they would go before pulling back and throwing the large chuck of him across the room. It took him mere seconds to understand what was going on and he leapt away from me, but then … then the strangest thing happened. As he spun around to face me his eyes seemed to force themselves shut, and he couldn't move, it looked like he was struggling with imaginary chains. He was trying to move his lips but they appeared to be glued shut. I simply stood there and stared at him in utter amazement for a few minutes before I realised that _I _was the one causing this to happen. That was the first time I used my power. I built a fire in the corner and lit it, I knew I would have to be quick in dismembering him. Even though he deserved to be torn apart piece by tiny piece for what he had done, as soon as any of the other guards smelled smoke they would have come running. So as soon as my job was done, I made a hasty escape. I escaped the cities limits by telling the guards on duty, that I had some important work to do for our leader and that I would be returning shortly. After that I ran, right to the coast and swam to Canada. I had been wondering Canada and America for about three hundred years before I found the Denali's." He stopped there, looking pensive. "And that's all there is to it I guess."

The room was palpable with tension. Everyone was looking at him, nothing but surprise, awe and shock colouring their faces. Until the oaf across the table opened his mouth once again.

"Hell Scottie ... that was some story." The tension gave way to some light laughter at Emmett's absurd behaviour.

After that we called it a night, once Kerr's astounding story had been told, it was all we could concentrate on. Making the original nights plans impossible.

A short while later, I lay down on my bed and let my mind wander. Maddy and Kerr had gone hunting with Jasper, Alice, Emmett and Carlisle. Edward, Esme, Rosalie and I hadn't needed to so we just went our separate ways. It had been a long week, so much had happened … so much had changed.

I now could understand Tanya's loath for me … but it didn't really make me feel any better now that I thought about it. Although at the time when Esme told me, I had felt relief, now all I felt was trepidation. I hoped to stay with Edward forever, but the Denali's were part of the Cullen's extended family. They couldn't be avoided. So at every turn Tanya and I would butt heads. I wasn't willing to let Edward go, and she wasn't willing to give up on trying to take him away from me. Even after Edward put her in her place … I just knew she wasn't the type of person that would back down simply having heard harsh words.

It was then that something started tugging at my memory, someone or something was dancing on the periphery and I couldn't quite place what it was. Someone from my human life wanted to be acknowledged. Someone I hadn't thought about for a long time.

Jacob.

**A/N : So, as I mentioned above Kerr actually exists. As does Maddy … well kind of! She's loosely based on me except from she's a hell of a lot prettier and thinner, ha! Some of you have mentioned that you'd like to see the height difference between the two characters considering he's 6ft 4 and she's 5ft 1 so here's a wee link so you actually **_**can **_**see it =] . ****http://s605(dot)photobucket(dot)com/albums/tt133/Rachael_Rawr/?action=view¤t;=**** Just replace (dot) with . And you should be all set =].**

**Love much,**

**Rachael.**


	19. The End of the World

_**Disclaimer: Steph Meyer owns the beautiful world of Twilight! I simply own the paraphernalia!**_

_Hey, guys I'm sorry it's been so long between updates! But there's been a lot of stuff going on, some of it's been good and some of it's been pretty rough! But still I'm really sorry I've made you wait so long! I did start another version of this around Christmas but I didn't like the way it panned out so this is the new, and hopefully, improved version! I hope you all enjoy it. Also this chapter starts on more of a lighter note and ends on one too! Just giving ya a heads up!_

**Also a big shout out to Mskathy who did the Hope for Haiti Fan Fiction Compilation! It was such an amazing idea and really brought us together as a community. Also my heart goes out to all the people in Haiti right now who have been affected by this horrible disaster! If I could do more, I would. I just hope that what I have done has helped in someway. **

**As weird as this may sound, the Haiti disaster has given me hope in a way. Just seeing almost the entire world pull together to help those poor unfortunate people in their time of need really pulls at my heart strings and makes me almost believe that, as human beings, we're not all monsters. That sounds a bit harsh but when you think about all the wars going on and the heinous murders and the crimes committed against children of all people, it doesn't shine a very good light on us at all and it's disheartening. Its sad that it took a disaster of this magnitude to show me that, but it's just the way the world works. I've rambled on enough! On with the story! Thanks for reading and please leave a review.**

BPOV

School had been meticulously boring. I had daydreamed my entire way through the day, only stopping to look at Edward whenever I was graced with his company. We were all at the Cullen mansion, sitting in the living room watching infomercials.

I couldn't help thinking about how ridiculous this boredom truly was. It was touching everyone of us by the looks of it, clearly immortality and unlimited time was not all it was cracked up to be.

The current infomercial, for some new magical vacuum that could apparently clean better than any other vacuum on the planet, changed to one about a new food processing unit. I sighed and felt myself start to slip back into my fantasy world where Edward and I could be together completely unhindered, when I saw Alice start to vibrate from the corner of my eye and Edwards head snapped up, looking in her direction.

"Alice, what was that?" He asked, I was sure I could detect a slight hint of unease in his tone. Alice's eyes grew wide as she looked at her brother.

"What?" she asked with feigned, overly sweet innocence.

"The glimpse of the future that I got from your thoughts a few moments ago, which you are now conveniently blocking from me?" Edward replied. The hint of unease replaced with a hint of anger. Alice grinned at him wickedly.

"If I told you that it would ruin the surprise, and that just won't do my dear, grumpy brother." She said, with the grin still in place. Edward groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Come on, Jasper." Alice trilled in a sing-song voice. "We have some shopping to do." Jasper always obedient to Alice's whims, lifted himself from the chair and followed her into the garage, shaking his head somewhat bemusedly as if he was indulging a small child in some pointless act, without uttering a single word.

We all shared glances, some were amused some seemed bordering on cynical. I couldn't say I blamed them. Alice's ideas always had the potential to go very wrong, but her exchange with Edward had amused me at least.

We sat in silence for what seemed like hours, before we heard a car approach the house. Alice was returning and for the first time I felt slightly uneasy. I was overwhelmed with the smell of … food. Like, real human food. Maybe it wasn't Alice, maybe a food delivery boy had gotten lost along his way, although that seemed highly unlikely.

Sure enough it was Alice and Jasper, both laden down by bags of food. From what I could smell there was a mixture of hot take-out as well as cold meat, crisps, chocolate and … Microwave meals?

"Alice, before I even get started on the rest of the stuff you've brought with you … Microwaveable meals? Are you serious?" I asked, my voice tainted in disbelief and amusement.

"Well, ever since they were invented we've bought a microwave, even updated it the second it goes out of fashion, but never once has it been used!" She replied tartly as if this completely justified the need to bring something into the house that would be eaten by no-one in it.

"My second point being … what's it all for?"

"Us." She replied simply, before zipping into the kitchen, leaving me completely gob smacked and leaving Jasper to visibly drag his feet while following her. That was a first for me, I'd never seen a vampire drag their feet. This was going to be bad.

We grudgingly followed her into the kitchen, standing in different places as they unpacked the bags.

"So," Alice began. "We've all been vampires now for quite some time. Apart from Edward who ate slice of pizza on one his little lunch dates with Bella, none of us have tried human food for a long, long time. And I think it's time we tried again." The room erupted.

"What, Alice? That's crazy?" - Maddy.

"Alice, human food tastes like cardboard to us!" - Edward.

"Hell yeah! Bring it little sister!" - Emmett.

"I am not touching anything you put in front of me." - Rosalie.

Carlisle, Esme, Kerr and I simply shook our heads.

"Oh, come on! Where's your sense of adventure! So it tastes like cardboard! Big deal! There's still different textures to explore! The only thing to pass our lips has been blood! In case you hasn't noticed it's smooth. And not very exciting. All of you just suck it up and take a shot!" was Alice's indignant reply. She eyed us all, silently imploring everyone, except Emmett, who was already sniffing the bags and rubbing his hands together, to take a shot.

"I'll do it." I piped up. Why the hell not. If it saved me from boredom, I was game.

"Yay! I knew I could count on you Bella!" Alice squealed delightedly, while smacking one of Emmett's hands that was now pawing through one of the bags.

"Now, for you Emmett, we have a big juicy cheeseburger! It's like part of a cow with cheese on it! Cool, eh?" Emmett's eyes grew big as he eyed the burger in front of him, I was pretty sure I saw some drool. I only just stopped myself from laughing. I didn't want to snap him out of it, I wanted everyone else to catch a glimpse of it.

"And for Bella we have … Ah that's right. Mushroom Ravioli." Alice grinned at me with and evil glint in her eye. If I didn't love her so much I'd punch her. My eyes flickered to Edward, he was watching me intently. I sucked in a deep breath and walked forward to pick my container.

Alice continued to go through the food purchases until everyone had something, Rosalie had completely vetoed her veal as she didn't care how high class it was or how much blood was still in it. She opted for a shiny red apple. Only because Alice threatened to make her out of hours relationship with Emmett impossible if she didn't at least try something.

Edward had been landed with chicken chow mien, which he eyed suspiciously. He asked if there was anything with strawberries instead that he could try … to no avail. Alice told him if he was good and tried what he had been given he might well be rewarded.

Poor Kerr had been landed with seaweed. Not the kind you see on the beach seaweed. It was food seaweed in some sort of spicy sauce, I felt for him … I really did.

"Ok, is everybody ready?" Alice asked holding her own ham sandwich with salad. It was not what I'd expected her to take. I was sure she would have gone with something much more extravagant. Everyone bobbed their heads.

"Then dig in!" She punctuated her words with a taking a huge bite from her sandwich. Everyone followed her lead. Edward was right, it did taste like cardboard. But Alice had been right too. The textures in themselves were sort of satisfying.

Emmett ate the cheeseburger with wild abandon, it was gone in one bite more or less. Maddy spat hers into the garbage, and was followed by Jasper, Esme and Carlisle. Edward persevered like a man and ate two forkfuls of his before sitting it down and claiming he was out.

Rosalie looked thoroughly disgusted, Kerr looked like he was going to be sick. Just then Alice took in a sharp breath, everyone turned to look at her. Her eyes were blank as if she was looking off into nothingness.

"The future …" was all she said in a breathy voice. Jasper was at her side instantly. He gripped her by the shoulders and shook her gently.

"What about the future, Alice?" His tone was consoling but nobody missed the worry that laced it's way through his words.

"It went … black." She mumbled.

"Why can I smell … Dog?" Rosalie said, but her statement went practically un-noticed as our sensitive hearing picked up the thundering footfalls that were headed towards the house. Without thinking twice everyone flew towards the door, we didn't have time to block it but we did have time to brace ourselves.

Edward growled and more or less threw me behind him. Momentarily my situation with Edward was forgotten, I gripped the back of his shirt peaking over his shoulder gingerly. I was afraid. It felt as if time had slowed down, the footfalls heading towards the house sounded like a panicked heartbeat. Finally the moment came when the door was thrown open, the person in the doorway looked at us with such ferocity, he almost didn't look like the boy I remembered him to be. My mouth formed the name of somebody that I hadn't laid eyes upon for such a long time.

"Jacob." It was only a whisper but he heard me, his eyes snapping to mine. The ferocity momentarily disappeared to show a look of longing before it returned full force.

"What the hell have you done to her?" He bellowed, sweeping his eyes over the Cullen's accusingly. I thought it would have been Carlisle who spoke, but it was Edward.

"Jacob, calm down. This isn't what you think it is."

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down. And don't you dare tell me anything about what I think. You've turned her into a filthy, blood-sucking leech! How could you?"

"Jacob really, it's not their fault. They didn't…" He cut me off.

"And you," He stabbed his finger in my direction. Edward hissed. "Like you're any better. Leaving like that? Without a word to anyone? Is that all that years of friendship mean to you? Nothing but some pathetic little note left on a coffee table? Do you have any idea what that did to me? And your mother? It destroyed her, Bella. Maybe it's just as well you're a filthy blood-sucker now. It's fitting." Edward erupted in front of me.

"Don't speak to her like that. She owes you nothing _dog." _He snarled. Jacob ran his eyes over each of our faces again, leaving mine till last. As his eyes met mine all I could see was years of anger and betrayal towards me, shrouded in disappointment. He shook his head and turned to leave.

"No! Jake, please! You don't understand. I didn't have a choice!" I was begging that he would believe my words, I just wanted him to let me explain. As he turned back to look at me, it was evident before he even spoke, that he didn't want to hear what I had to say.

"Everyone has a choice, _Isabella_." He spat, before turning to leave. He slammed the door behind him and was gone. I felt like I was crumbling inside. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, I just wanted the earth to open and swallow me up.

"Take me home, please." I whispered into Edward's shirt. Without asking any questions Edward brought me round to his side and walked me out the door and into his car. We spent the drive back to my house in silence. As soon as we pulled up I stepped of the car and headed inside, only to be stopped by Edward.

"Bella, wait! Are you okay?" He spun me towards him. But I refused to meet his eye, if he looked into mine he would know that my next words were a lie.

"I'm fine." I told my shoes. I heard him sigh in frustration, before he hooked is finger under my chin and tilted my face towards his. He looked down at me with soft eyes, I just wanted to melt into him and feel safe, whole and … happy.

"I know that's not true, but I'm not going to push you. If you need to talk, you know where to find me." Wow. Edward really was taking this seriously. Usually he would have pushed me until he got what he wanted. But instead he was leaving me be, he was learning from his mistakes.

"Thank you." I was conflicted about whether I should hug him or just walk away, when his eyes flickered down to my lips. I knew what was coming and I suddenly didn't want to walk away anymore.

Edwards firm lips pressed against mine softly and lovingly at first but it escalated into years worth of passion, want and need condensed into one kiss. It felt as if it was the end of the world was nigh and the only way he could tell me he loved me, was by kissing me.

I revelled in the feeling of his tongue on mine. It was uninhibited and glorious. I never wanted it to end. But it did.

Edward pulled back from me slightly and leaned his forehead against mine. Our breaths were laboured despite the fact that we didn't need to breath at all. He pulled back forward and started searching my eyes for something. Maybe it was regret he was looking for … or maybe it was love. He shouldn't have needed to look. He knew I loved him and always would, the only reason we weren't together was because I still needed time to fully understand why he ever left me and because I needed to find the trust in our relationship again.

"I'd say I was sorry but …" I cut him off placing a finger to his lips and shushing him.

"No words." I said. I took my finger away and pressed my lips gently on his for just a moment before I pulled away and headed towards the front door.

"Goodbye, Edward." I said without looking back.

"Goodnight, Bella." Was his soft reply. I shut the door behind me and leant against it. It had been an odd day. So many emotions had played across my mind and I felt spent. From the hilarity of Alice's food experiment, to Jacob bursting through the Cullen's front door and berating them and then me and then to Edward, kissing me like the whole world was going to end if he didn't. I was glad he did. It had dulled the blow that Jacob had dealt me.

I wondered idly if I would ever get to explain to Jake why I did what I did. I hoped so. I hadn't seen him for so long and hadn't ended things well the last time. The last thing I needed was a repeat.

I headed up stairs into my room, it was like a sanctuary to me. It was quiet and dark and all I needed. As I walked towards the bed I noticed something I had failed to notice before.

One of my floorboards was loose.

Very loose.

I flicked the light switch on out of habit more than need and knelt down next to the loose floor board. I pried it open with my fingers and what I saw shocked me. The space beneath it was jam packed.

The first thing I saw was a picture. It was of a young girl and who I assumed to be her boyfriend. It was obviously self taken, considering the squinty angle. The girl had bright blue eyes and coppery hair with freckles speckled all over the bridge of her nose. The boy had dark brown hair and hazel eyes. They made a good couple and I found myself wondering what had happened to them. Were they still together? High school sweethearts, maybe? I placed the picture down beside me and continued to look through the mass of objects.

There were a few more pictures of the copper haired girl and friends. And little trinkets. After a couple of layers the pictures changed this time to a girl with blonde hair and green eyes, quite like Maddy but with a longer thinner nose and her assumed boyfriend who also had blonde hair and green eyes.

I kept digging, looking at all of the pictures and giggling away to myself at the stupidity of some of them. What I found next would have made my heart stop beating if it still could.

It was a picture of a girl with long, curly, brown hair and deep brown eyes. She was standing next to an impossibly good looking boy with glorious golden eyes and a wild array of bronze hair.

It was me. And Edward.

A huge bubble of emotion began to swell inside of me as I plucked out the next picture. It showed Charlie and Edward sitting in the living room, seemingly captivated by something on the flat screen T.V. ESPN if I remembered correctly. And the final picture was of Edward. Just Edward.

He looked so happy and playful. He was staring at whoever had taken the picture with such a loving expression it hurt to look at. Because that person was me. I chocked out a dry sob and scrunched my eyes tight, overwhelmed by the memories that were hitting me thick and fast. And overwhelmed by remembering how quickly my life had gone from extraordinary to dull and worthless.

Looking down there was more. A jewel C.D case and a pair of tickets to Jacksonville, long since expired. The presents I was given on my fateful eighteenth birthday. I pulled them out and cradled them to my chest. Why did he have to leave. I opened the C.D case and stuck it in the player, turning it to my lullaby.

It was haunting.

It was as if Edward had started some sort of ritual. It seemed as if every other person that had lived here had found this loose floorboard and subsequently found what Edward had hidden from me. The they had taken it upon themselves to add something more. It made me want to cry. The basis of so much pain had brought around a tradition for the people who had lived here over the years.

I put the floor board back down and picked up every little treasure I had found and slid them into my desk drawer. Pulling out my cell I sent a text to Edward.

**Edward,**

**I found your hidden stash in my room.**

**So many sweet memories left behind.**

**I'm glad you did it.**

**It's brought me hope.**

**We'll talk about it tomorrow.**

**Bella x**

It had brought me hope. Hope that we could fix this stupid mess. I needed Edward. And I was never going to let him walk away from me again.

**A/N : So could we be having a possible reunion finally in the next few chapters? We'll see. Give me you're thoughts. Let me know if you want them back together or wither you want me to torture them for a couple more chapters. Leave me a quick review and I'll try to get back to you. **

**Love much,**

**Rachael x. **


	20. Gravity

_**Disclaimer : Stephenie still owns Twilight, I still don't!**_

_I know, I know. It's been a long time coming, but I'm not going to make any excuses, all I'm going to say is … it's back baby!_

I couldn't believe I was coming back. It had been 50 years since I'd left La Push. I stuck around to begin with because I had duties there that need to be tended too, and I had friends and family to protect. But, I'd never really been in it. I was there in body, not in mind and that was why I eventually left. I needed a new start, I couldn't be around the constant reminders of _her _anymore. It was too painful and I needed out.

To begin with I simply travelled. I went all over the states, exploring new places and appreciating how even though I was still in the same country, it could be so different. I eventually got tired of that.

So I moved to Maine. Why Maine? I have no idea, I didn't choose it specifically. It was just where I ended up. I didn't give up my right to transform, but I didn't use it either. I got a job working in an auto-body repair shop and kept myself busy. I didn't really interact with other people … that was until the day that Jenna walked through the door.

She was in to pick up her car from Zander, he'd been buffing out and re-painting a dent in her door. I heard the bell at the front door chime, signalling that someone had just entered and automatically looked up to see who it was. My eyes locked on to hers and it felt like the rest of the world just disappeared and became obsolete. I felt like I'd been searching for her my whole life and I'd finally found her. I start to walk towards her, my legs working of their own accord and before I knew it I was standing right in front of her and that was the moment my life truly started. Everything before hand had just been meaningless pre-amble up until this point. I finally felt like I had a purpose.

I gave up my transformation for her, she didn't push me to do it. I just didn't want that to impact on her life.

"Jake? Baby? Are you ok? You seem like you're a million miles away." Jenna laughed beside me, shaking me from my reverie. I shook my head to gain some focus.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about the day we met." I said with a grin. She smiled in recognition.

"It was the best day of my life." I reached over and rubbed her swollen belly.

"Soon to be the second best day of your life, when this little one finally makes their appearance." She laughed.

"Yeah we'll see about that. I'm willing to bet that meeting you involved much less pain." I smiled at her again and turned my attention back to the road. We were about twenty miles outside of La Push and I was starting to feel anxious. I'd had no contact with the rez since I'd left. I didn't know who was still here, I didn't know if anyone had moved on or if any of the pack had died. I'd be walking into the situation blindly, and I didn't know if I was going to be able to keep my emotions in check.

I'd known from the second we'd planned this trip where I would take Jenna first. First Beach. I just had to show it to her. It had been a place I used to go when I was younger for fun and then as I got older it was the place I went to find myself and find solace in what was going on around me.

We pulled into the parking lot and I jumped out first so that I could help Jenna down, the truck was high off the ground, and the last thing I wanted her to do was get hurt. Especially considering how heavily pregnant she was.

Once she was safely on the ground I locked up the truck, grabbed her hand and started to walk her towards the beach. In the distance I could see a topless guy, with a girl flung over his shoulder as he ran towards the waves. I could hear her screams and his laugh from where we were currently standing. It was Embry. I'd know that laugh anywhere.

"Hey Embry!" I yelled. "Get over here and stop harassing pretty girls." I could see him grinning at me as he began walking towards me, he took the girls hand after he brought her down off of his shoulder and brought her with him.

"Jacob Black! What're you doing on my rez, buddy?" He said as we shook hands and took part in the one-armed bro hug. I laughed.

"Oh so this is your rez now? Yeah, right." I said pushing him playfully. He laughed along with me.

"Yeah wishful thinking I guess. Are you going to introduce me?" He asked gesturing towards Jenna.

"Oh yeah of course! Jenna, this is my old friend Embry, Embry this is my wife, Jenna." They shook hands and Embry kissed her on the cheek.

"When are you due?" Embry asked.

"In about a month." Jenna replied, beaming.

"Congratulations, both of you." Embry said smiling. "Now Jake, this is my fiancée Anji." If his grin was big, Anji's was huge.

"It's lovely to meet you, Jacob. I've heard so much about you." She said with a sideways glance towards Embry, who ducked his head. I let out another laugh.

"Is that so? Been talking about me again big guy? All these years and you've still not got over that crush, huh?" I said while jumping back prom the punch he'd aimed at me.

"Yeah, yeah you're really funny Jake!" He said with a joking glare in my direction, he turned to Anji. "Hey, you want to show Jenna around for a bit, while Jake and I catch up?"

"Sure thing." She said, pecking him on the cheek. Jenna shot me a quick smile before they both headed off. Embry and I began walking along the beach.

"So how is everyone?" I asked. It was time to bite the bullet, I had to find out which of my brothers still stood standing. Embry let out a long sigh. Not a good sign.

"I've actually been trying to get a hold of you for the last little while to let you know … Quil died." I stopped walking and turned to look at him. It had always been Quil, Embry and I. We'd been friends since we were kids and had gone through this experience together, they were brothers to me in more than one sense … and now one of them was gone.

"What happened?" I asked quietly, he let out another sigh.

"It was hard watching him go, you know?" I bobbed my head slightly and patted him on the shoulder, I hadn't been there and I hated myself for that, but I could imagine how much it would have hurt. "Clare went before he did. Cancer. You could see it in his eyes, that he was dying with her. He blamed himself, said that if he'd looked after her properly it would never have happened. It didn't matter how many times I tried to explain to him that it didn't work like that, the worlds just a cruel place, he never accepted it." He scrunched his eyes together and rubbed them roughly with his fingers. "After she passed he didn't last two weeks. I went over to their place to check up on him and he was sitting in his chair with his eyes closed. I thought he was sleeping, but when I touched him… he was like ice." His voice broke slightly on the last word and I hugged him to me. I could feel the tears prick at my eyeballs, but I was determined they wouldn't fall. Embry didn't need my pain as well as his.

"I'm sorry bro." It was all I could think to say.

"Don't be Jake, hey, guess what I heard?" Change of topic. It was needed. I chuckled.

"What did you hear?" I asked, humouring him more than anything else.

"The Cullen's are back!" My blood ran cold, suddenly my body was covered in sweat and for the first time since I gave up my transformation my hands started to shake. I grabbed them into fists, imploring myself to stay calm.

"What?" My voice came out sharper than I had intended it to, though Embry didn't seem to notice.

"Yup. There are two new members with them as well, Some short blonde girl and another big tall guy. I mean it might not be true but it's the word on the rez right now. Oh and here's the kicker. Apparently Bella Swan's with them." That did it. Before I fully understood what I was doing, I was running as fast as my human body would carry me. I was running to Forks.

I wasn't even sure where I was going. I was going towards the old Cullen mansion but they might not even be there. They could've built another house for all I knew. But I didn't care, if I had to go through a process of elimination and ring every door bell in Forks just to find them … I would.

I was running up the Cullen's drive way when a smell hit me, my nose was still sensitive from my transformation days. I could smell human food and that automatically made me stall. Vampires can't eat human food, they couldn't be here. I was about to turn around and walk away when I stopped again, willing my nose to help me I took in another deep breath. This time I felt like I'd run into a brick wall. It was so faint but I'd know that icy, sickly sweet stench anywhere. There were vampires here.

The anger overtook me again and I ran as fast as I could towards the house, throwing the door open with a bang. And there they were, standing in protective stances, looking shocked but none the less prepared to fight. I swept my eyes over the group. Sure enough all the Cullen's were there, and I noted the short blonde and the tall guy Embry spoke of. But it wasn't them I wanted to see. I heard her before I could locate her with my eyes.

"Jacob?" Her voice was so clear and bell like but it was definitely Bella. My eyes found her, she was hidden behind Edward, her beautiful face was paler than it had ever been in her human life, the rose blush that was always present, was no where to be found. Her eyes were golden and her expression was one of total shock. My anger, which had disappeared as soon as I'd laid eyes on her, returned full force as the reality of the situation hit me.

Bella was one of them. A vampire.

My hands were starting to shake again, I felt like I was losing control.

"What the hell have you done to her?" I bellowed, not able to contain my anger any longer.

"Jacob, calm down. This isn't what you think it is." Edward said, I glared at him, my hate for him returning tenfold.

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down. And don't you dare tell me anything about what I think. You've turned her into a filthy, blood-sucking leech! How could you?"

"Jacob really, it's not their fault. They didn't…" Bella was trying to defend these leeches … that was just making me feel worse, this time I directed my anger towards her.

"And you," I jabbed my finger in her direction. I was vaguely aware that Edward _hissed _at me like some sort of venomous snake. "Like you're any better. Leaving like that? Without a word to anyone? Is that all that years of friendship mean to you? Nothing but some pathetic little note left on a coffee table? Do you have any idea what that did to me? And your mother? It destroyed her, Bella. Maybe it's just as well you're a filthy blood-sucker now. It's fitting." I spat, she need to understand what she'd done to everyone she had left behind.

"Don't speak to her like that. She owes you nothing _dog." _Edward snarled. I ignored him, looking each of the blood suckers dead in the eye, just daring them to say something else. Finally I set my eyes on Bella, it was almost painful for me to see her like this. The rational part of me was telling me to stop acting like an idiot, Edward was all she'd ever wanted and now she had him, she was happy and I should be happy for her. But I couldn't be. All I could feel was hate, anger, fear, betrayal and disappointment. I shook my head and turned to leave.

"No! Jake, please! You don't understand. I didn't have a choice!" Bella called after me. I turned back and looked at her one last time.

"Everyone has a choice, _Isabella_." I spat, and then I left, slamming the door behind me. I began to walk back to La Push, my mind a jumbled mess, my emotions were in a complete disarray. I felt like I was losing my grip on reality. But I did know one thing.

As soon as I got back to La Push, I was taking Jenna and getting her as far away from here as possible. I was not going to put my wife and unborn child in danger.

And if anything was dangerous it was those damn blood suckers.

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! I know Jacob's not our favourite Left Behind character but he had a right to explain himself a little! So do you think Bella will get a chance to explain herself before Jacob disappears again? Also if any of you guys have twitter feel free to hit me up I'm RachaelRawr on there too! **

**See you on the other side!**

**Much Love,**

**Rachael x**


	21. One Shot, So make it Count

_**Disclaimer : Twilight isn't mine, but I do have tickets for the Premier!**_

_Hey! Well the response to the last chapter was amazing! I'm so glad you guys enjoyed it! I got a lot of new adds to author alerts, story alerts and favourite story alerts etc this week. Thanks for reading new followers and I hope to hear from you all soon ^^ Now, on with the next one!_

**JPOV.**

Once I'd made it back to the reservation, I headed straight for Embry's house, hoping that he and Anji had, had the sense to take Jenna there. I burst through the door and ran into the living room, grateful to see that they were all there, alive and well.

"Jenna, we have to get out of here … now." I grabbed her hand and helped her up, out of her chair.

"Why? What's going on?" She asked, clearly confused.

"Yeah, Jake. Why did you take off like that? What happened?" Embry chimed in, I scrunched my eyes shut. I didn't want to waste time explaining when all I wanted to do was get my wife somewhere safe.

"I don't have time to explain, we need to go." I said trying to get Jenna to follow me to the door. She snatched her hand away from me and folded her arms across her chest.

"Not until you give me a good reason. We've been travelling for days to get here, and I'm exhausted, Jake. You either explain or we're not going anywhere." She was deadly serious, I cursed under my breath.

"Fine. Sit down." I knew I was acting like a child but I was to emotional to keep myself in check. Jenna sat and so did I. "Remember when I told you about my friend, Bella? And those…" I had to stop myself from saying 'bloodsuckers' "vampires she hung around with? Remember the story about how they left her and she was inconsolable?"

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, while Embry and I were talking on the beach he told me about a rumour. He said that the Cullen's were back and that Bella was with them. I left to go and confirm it for myself, because I couldn't believe it, but it's true. Their here, all of them. Bella and two other new ones as well."

"That's great, Jake!" She said beaming, I was gob smacked.

"H-how is that a good thing?" I asked.

"Because it means that she's alive, at least in some way, and you can find out what happened all those years ago. I know that's been bugging you Jake, and now you can finally get closure on it." My mind was reeling. It was true that Bella's fate had plagued my thoughts for years, but that didn't change anything. There were vampires here, and vampires were dangerous. I shook my head.

"No, it doesn't work like that. Those creatures are dangerous and I can't rest having you here when I know how close they are." I said shaking my head again. Embry spoke up.

"Can I offer up a suggestion?" I nodded. "Why don't you both just stay, just for tonight. We'll even put you up in the guest room here. The pack still runs patrol, you're totally safe here. And you have to think about it rationally, man. Your wife is heavily pregnant, she needs rest preferably in a warm, comfortable bed instead of in the front seat of your truck." He had me there. Now that I'd had some time to calm down, I knew I couldn't subject Jenna to more travel. She was uncomfortable as it was, she didn't need me adding to it. They'd beaten me.

"Ok, but just for tonight. Tomorrow we're out of here."

**BPOV.**

It had been a long night for me, my brain was practically rattling around in my skull, constantly recounting the events of yesterday. From eating that damn food, to Jake, to finding all of those things hidden under my floorboards. Despite the rest of it, Jake was at the fore front of my mind.

I had to tell him about what happened. I loathed the thought of him thinking that I'd had any choice in the matter. I had always wanted to become a vampire so that Edward and I could be together forever, but after he left I had no reason to want to be a vampire anymore. Maddy changed me and gave me a new chance at life instead of leaving me for dead. She'd done the right thing by me and I needed to make Jake see that. Plus, I wanted to know about him. I wanted to know why he'd chosen to live this long, had he not found someone he wanted to live a life with and die with? Had he married at some point? Did he have kids? I could tell from looking at him yesterday that he must have given up his transformation rights, he looked older than what I remembered. Not by much, but my new sharp eyesight picked up on it.

At the time I'd been so shocked to see him that I didn't think to look for any indicators, like a wedding band. I had mentally kicked myself for not paying more attention.

It was 6 am when I finally gave up on trying to order my thoughts and went through to Maddys room. She was sitting in the middle of her bed, cross legged, reading a book. I looked around the room before asking, "Where's Kerr?" She looked up at me before answering.

"He went out to hunt, said he could still feel the seaweed in his mouth and needed someway to get rid of it." She said with a giggle. "He should be back soon if you need him, what's up?"

"It's not him I wanted to see, it's you. I just figured he'd be here." I said with a shrug. "As for what's up … I need you to do me a favour."

"Sure, anything." God I loved her! She was always so willing to help me.

"I want to go to La Push." I chose to just say it without any preamble. Maddy's jaw dropped.

"Why? You know we can't go there. What if the wolves just tear us apart?" She asked. I shook my head.

"They won't. I need to go Maddy, I have to explain to Jacob what happened. And you changed me. I want you to be there so you can … back me up or something. Please? He was my best friend, I owe him an explanation. Even if he doesn't want to hear it." I silently begged her with my eyes. After a moments consideration, she rolled her eyes and sighed.

"When're we going?" She asked. I jumped onto the bed and hugged her, she laughed at my over-exuberance.

"As soon as possible, I just need to get changed first. Unless you need to do something?" I asked.

"Nope, I'm good. I've got to change too but that's it."

"Great." I said, jumping up off the bed. "I'll meet you downstairs when you're ready. I ran back to my room and changed quickly. I was scared about what other cutting remarks Jacob would no doubt throw at me but nonetheless I was excited to see my old friend. I was excited about being able to explain myself.

Maddy and I met up at the bottom of the stairs and headed out. It was early so there was nobody around, but we took the precaution of walking into the woods before we started to run. We were at the La Push boundary line in minutes. We stood on our side for a moment before looking at each other.

"Well here goes nothing." I said gently and with that we stepped over the invisible line. Instead of moving forward, we stood still, waiting for them to come to us. Sure enough only a couple of seconds passed before we could hear the thundering footfalls of the wolves approaching. Five of them appeared in front of us, ready to attack, when all of a sudden they stopped advancing towards us.

The wolf nearest to us, who I assumed was the new alpha turned his head away from us towards the brown wolf on his right. They seemed to silently communicate for several moments, until the suspected alpha and the wolf on his right transformed, right before our very eyes into human men. Naked human men. I found myself being eternally thankful for my lack of blushing abilities.

"I'm Kiowa Uley, Alpha of this pack. From what Embry has just told me, you know of my grandfather, Sam Uley and an ex pack member of ours Jacob Black." He said while observing both of us with wary eyes.

"Yes, I knew of Sam. Jacob is … was my best friend many years ago. My name is Bella Swan, this is Maddy Pierce. We've come not to endanger your community, I can promise you that. We drink animals blood, and _only _animals blood. We're here because I would like to talk to Jacob, to clear up a misunderstanding." I crossed my fingers discreetly by my side. Kiowa considered me for a moment before speaking.

"Embry, go to Jacob and tell him of the situation. If he says yes bring him here. Be quick." Embry nodded, before becoming a wolf once more and running off down the road. I'd never seen the transformation first hand before, and it was truly something to behold.

The three wolves that had kept their form during the conversation relaxed their stances slightly. The six of us stood, without speaking or moving, just casting glances at one another every now and then. It was an extremely awkward moment. After what felt like a lifetime a truck appeared in the distance, I glanced at Kiowa worriedly, and then to the three wolves but he shook his head.

"That's Jake's truck." A thrill of excitement and nervous energy blasted through me. He had agreed to come, maybe we could work through this. The truck pulled to a stop and I noticed there were three people in side. A now dressed Embry, Jake and a woman, who I guessed was about twenty-four years old. She looked excited and was the first one to exit the truck. A quick glance at Jake told me he wasn't happy about this, his eyes were nearly bugging out of his head. He jumped out too, followed by Embry.

"Jenna! I told you to stay in the truck, what are you doing?"

"Jacob!" The woman half yelled, half laughed, "we've been through this already. I'm not afraid and I highly doubt they're going to hurt me. Do _you _think they're going to hurt me?" She asked, Jakes eyes flickered to mine for a moment and I tried to silently convey the fact that I wouldn't hurt her. He snapped his eyes back to Jenna.

"I don't know," Jacob whined, "That's what worries me the most!" Jenna sighed and shook her head before turning her back on him and walking straight towards Maddy and I. She was very pretty, she was what the quileutes would have a called a pale face, but her skin was sun kissed. She had beautiful green eyes and long, silky brown hair. She came to a stop in front of us. "Hi," She said with a bright smile. "I'm Jenna Black, you must be Bella, I've heard so much about you." She held out her hand for me to shake, I looked at Jacob. He looked so anxious, Maddy and I had to prove that we weren't going to cause, who I now knew to be, his wife any harm. I reached out my hand to her but before I let our hands clasp together, I warned her.

"I'm pretty cold by the way." And then I grasped her hand in mine. She gasped slightly, but didn't move to pull her hand away from me, she simply stared at our joined hands with wide eyes before she grinned up at me, I returned her smile. "It's lovely to meet you, Jenna."

Maddy introduced herself also, she and Jenna struck up a conversation but I wasn't paying any attention. Jacob and I were staring at each other, waiting for the other to make the first move and start the discussion we knew we needed to have. Jacob eventually bowed his head, and rubbed the back of his neck, before signalling for me to follow him. We walked over to the truck, he lent against it, I stood a few feet from him, waiting for my cue.

"Ok, Bella. Tell me." I took a deep breath before I began my story.

**MPOV.**

Jenna and I watched in silence as Bella and Jacob walked over to his truck. Part of me wanted to follow, but I knew this had to be between just them. I was only here in case he needed me to solidify her story, but I doubted I'd be needed. I turned my attention back to Jenna.

"I'm a little surprised he came, yesterday he seemed so angry. I though he'd never hear her out." Jenna smiled at me.

"He wasn't going to. Last night he came back to Embry's house in a blind panic, demanding that we leave straight away. We managed to talk him into staying the night though. This morning when Embry came to deliver the message, he was adamant that we weren't going … but I talked him round." I observed her quietly for a few moments before speaking.

"On behalf of Bella more than anyone else, I have to say thank you. If she hadn't been able to set things right with Jacob …" I left off shaking my head. Jenna patted me gently on the arm.

"You're welcome but in all honestly I did it for Jacob, I've been with him for three years, married for two. When we were first together and I found out what he was, he explained to me about other mythical creatures, which lead him to the story of Bella and the Cullen's. I know it's been torturing him for years, not knowing what became of her. And I knew that if I let him run away then someday, he would regret it. I couldn't bear the thought of seeing that sadness in his eyes again. He needed to know. I'm glad it's beneficial for Bella too though. She seems lovely." She said with another smile, which I returned.

We turned our attention back to Jacob and Bella, watching them converse. They each displayed a range of different emotions and eventually they both stopped talking. Bella was looking down at her feet whilst Jacob started rubbing the back of his neck. He looked up at her and said something to get her attention, before stepping forward and hugging her to him. I wanted to squeal and jump up and down but I restrained myself, I looked to Jenna again and saw that she was grinning hugely. It looked like there was hope after all.

**BPOV.**

I finished recounting my tale and looked down at my feet. I'd finally gotten it all out in the open, but I couldn't tell whether I felt better or worse. It was good to know that I had told him everything, but on the other hand, talking about it had brought all my suppressed emotions back to the surface and I was only barely able to keep them in check.

"Hey, Bells," I looked up at the sound of my old nickname coming from him with a small smile. Then he opened his arms and enveloped me in a hug. I relished in the feel of it, it felt so good to be close to my old friend again. "God, Bella … you stink!" He said whilst laughing. I broke free from his hug and punched his arm.

"Yeah because the scent of wet dog is so appealing to me! Speak for yourself , Jake." And then we were laughing like the last one hundred years never happened.

**A/N : So I hope you all enjoyed it! A few people commented on the fact that I forgot to put who's point of view the last chapter was from, I'm sorry about that! I just got a bit over excited about finally getting to post a Left Behind chapter again that I completely forgot to do it! It won't happen again, I promise! I hope you can all forgive me!**

**Much love,**

**Rachael. **


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